
o 

•3 




LECTURES 



ON THE 



NATURE AND DANGEROUS TENDENCY 



OF 



MODERN INFIDELITY: 



Delivered to Young Men, in the First Baptist Church in the City of 
Cleveland, Ohio, 



? 

BY REV. LEVI TUCKER, A. M. 

Pastor. 



]lli mor9 gravis incubat 
Qui, notus ninois omnibus, 
Ignotus moritur sibi. — Seneca. 

Nemo in sese tentat descendere.— -Persius. 



CLEVELAND: 

FRANCIS B. PENNIMAN. 
$ 1837. 



Copy UigW Secured. 



^ CONGRESS 



> 



Cleveland, Feb. 14, 1837. 
REV. L. TUCKER — Dear Sir: 

The young gentlemen of Cleveland and Ohio City are 
deeply sensible of the affectionate regard which prompted 
you to step forward and point out the beacon-light which 
would ward them off the dangerous shores of Infidelity, on 
which so many thousands have rushed to meet with an 
eternal death. The course of Lectures delivered by you 
in the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, has taught them 
to look beyond the bounds of this narrow existence to an 
inheritance full of immortality and life, if they will but fol- 
low the meek and lowly Jesus. As the sacred volume of 
inspiration declares "that as in water face answereth to face, 
so doth the heart ot man to man," they feel that a course of 
Lectures which has been so beneficial to themselves will 
produce the same result on others, and be a blessed instru- 
ment in the hand of God, by spreading wide eternal truth, of 
dispelling the withering, desolating influence of that hydra 
monster — Infidelity. With such views of the eternal inter- 
ests of man, they have appointed the undersigned as a com- 
mittee respectfully to solicit the favor of a copy of your 
Lectures for publication. GEO. W. BEEBEE, 

W. G. LEWIS, 
N. L. GASTON. 

Cleveland, Feb. 14, 1837. 

Gentlemen — 

Your very kind and polite note, requesting for publication 
a copy of my Lectures, delivered to the young gentlemen 
of Cleveland and Ohio City, on the dangers of Infidelity, has 
just come to hand. You will please accept for yourselves, 
and the young gentlemen you represent, my warmest thanks 
for the very flattering manner in which you are pleased to 
speak of my humble efforts. If those Lectures have been in- 
strumental in any degree, in spreading truth and counter- 
acting infidelity, I shall feel myself most amply rewarded. 
As they were delivered for the special benefit of the young 
gentlemen in this and Ohio Cities, and as it is their united 
request that the manuscript should be handed them for pub- 
lication, I cannot deny them so reasonable a request, how- 
ever much I might, under other circumstances, deem them 
unworthy such public notice. With sentiments of high 
esteem, I am gentlemen, Your obedient servant, 

LEVI TUCKER, 

Geo. W. Beebee, and others. 



PREFACE, 



Such is the nature of Infidelity that it would seem almost 
impossible, even with our knowledge of human depravity, to 
believe men could possibly embrace it. Characterized as it 
is, by that debauchery which induces the most loathsome 
disease — that dissoluteness which deranges the mind; and 
that bitter invective and low scurrility which prostrates the 
dignity of man, and leaves his noble powers a perfect wreck 
— makes all beyond the grave a dark and fearful void-^-a 
tremendous blank! It would seem that any system, com- 
bining go much which is morally corrupt and revolting, 
could not find an advocate. But a solution of this problem 
is found in the language of Bayle — "Those," said he, "who 
embraced the sect of Epicurus did not become debauchees 
because they embraced the doctrine of Epicurus. They only 
embraced the doctrine because they were debauchees." Here 
then is the secret of the whole matter. Men do not become 
bad by being Infidels: but they become infidels because they 
are bad. This is the grand argumentum ad hominum. 

Modern Infidelity has come down to us in all its original 
profanity and lewdness, from the days of Hume, Tindal, 
Shaftsbury, Morgan, Voltaire, Rosseau, and their coadjutors, 
yet, disrobed even of that false refinement of which it then 
boasted, and without a show of that learning and intelligence 
which it possessed when it made its bold assault on heaven, 
and in the revolution of its popular phrenzy, sought the 
entire extermination of the religion of Jesus Christ. Should 
we make no reference to the moral character of Infidelity, 
" its ignorance should be its disgrace and its ruin." But 
when we trace its reckless mischievousness into the most 
sacred retreat of domestic happiness, and find it sundering 
every bond of private virtue, as well as rudely assailing with 
a bloody hand every civil and political body of men — and 
breaking up, with untiring zeal, the broad foundations of 
social order, and throwing confusion and disorder into all 
ranks of society, it should be met in its desolating course 
of misery and death, by every friend of his country, every 
lover of virtue and moral purity, as well as of good order in 
every condition in life. 

When the Cholera — that fearful pestilence — that wasting 
scourge of heaven — was walking alike in midnight and 

A2 



noonday, from kingdom to kingdom, and from one continent 
to another, the world was in alarm, and the ingenuity of 
men taxed, and science at once laid under tribute to find an 
antidote. But when a moral pestilence infinitely more ru- 
inous and destructive is wasting the fairest portions of this 
moral world, men seem not to have taken the alarm. It is 
true, Infidelity never increased with such rapidity as at the 
present time. It is attacking the most interesting class of 
society — that class on which hangs the future destiny and 
glory of the world. With the grosser sort of Mahommedan- 
ism, Catholicism, and much of modern Fanaticism, infidelity 
is forming a wretched coalition for the destruction of all 
morality, virtue and religion, which should give alarm alike 
to the political rulers of our country, and to the church of 
God. The author, feeling the importance of this subject, 
and by the repeated solicitations of several young gentlemen, 
consented to deliver a course of Lectures on Modern Infidel- 
ity. He had no thought of their appearing before the public, 
at the time they were written; and hence he did not refer to 
the pages, or the particular works from which he made his 
various quotations. Such was the excitement at the time 
they were dilivered, that the young gentlemen felt exceed- 
ingly anxious to have tliem at once laid before the public. 
This precluded the possibility of that revision which he 
would have desired. 

The author did not design to enter into a defence of the 
christian religion: but to meet Infidelity in the open field 
of its practical abominations.* 

Praying that the blessing of God may accompany this 
humble effort, and that it may be the means of reclaiming 
many from the dangers of Infidelity, — it is, like the widow's 
mite, affectionately tendered to the public, in the room of a 
more liberal oifering. 



* The first Sermon was delivered to young men on New Year's Evening, 
without any design of publication. But at the request of several young 
men it is published in this volume, though it has no immediate bearing oa 
tae subject. 



DEDICATION. 



To those for whom these Lectures were originally 
designed, and who, during the progress of their delive- 
ry, manifested in them so deep an interest, and at 
whose kind and polite request they now appear in 
public — to the young gentlemen of this and Ohio Cities, 
this little volume is respectfully inscribed, by 
Their affectionate friend, 

THE AUTHOR, 



CONTENTS, 

I. Survey of the Field for Benevolent Labor. 

II. Claims of Society on Young Men. 

III. Principles necessary to meet such Claims. 

IV. Nature of Infidelity. 

V. Standards of Infidel Virtue. 

VI. Hypocritical and Licentious tendency of In- 
fidelity. 

VII. Reign of Infidelity in France — Death of 
Infidels and Christians compared. 



A SURVEY 

OF THE 

FIELD OF BENEVOLENT LABOR: 

A SERMON, 

Delivered to Young Men on New Year's Evening, 1837, 



" There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed." 
Joshua xiii, 1. 

There is the sublime in the moral, as well as in the 
natural world — sublimity of thought as well as sublimity 
of noble deeds. 

Who can look upon the gathering tempest — see the 
vivid lightnings play as they shoot athwart the blacken- 
ing heavens — listen to the hoarse murmur of the deep- 
toned voice of the Almighty — and when the gathering 
storm spreads out its dark pinions to sweep along, bury- 
ing alike the forest and the cultivated fields in the deep 
shades of night — who, I say, can look upon warring 
elements like these, and not drink in the full emotions 
of the sublime ? 

Who can stand upon some safe, but high pedestal 
and witness contending armies in the fields of death 
below him, see the flashes of musketry, and the can- 
non's more vivid light, amid the dense volume s of as- 
cending smoke, hear the clash of arms mingling with 
the groans of the wounded and the dying, the trampling 
of the furious war-horse, and the bellowing of the heavy 
artillery — the furious charge and the shouts of victory 
or death — who, I say, can witness all of this, and 
not feel the full power of the sublime ? 



12 



SURVEY OP THE FIELD 



Who can stand upon the deck of some well-manned 
ship, amid the mighty waste of waters around him, 
while the sea-fowl sails aloft, the sails hang loosely 
down, the wind hushed, and the waves still, and all 
around serene as a summer's evening — and then cast 
his eye along the line of the distant horizon, and see 
the dark and portentous clouds rapidly rolling up in 
thick and heavy volumes, skirted and crowned with 
livid sheets of fire, then let him listen to the low, but 
hurried commands of the officers, the quick and rapid 
movements of the sailor — who, I say, can witness this, 
and not feel the high and almost overpowering emo- 
tions of the sublime ? 

Who can ascend the mountain of holiness, and in 
cloudless and prophetic vision, witness the rapid evolu- 
tions and movements of the sacremental hosts of the 
redeemed of the Lord, all marshalled and equipped for 
the last conflict, and see their banners streaming over 
the long line and the gathering hosts, and not drink in 
the pure sublime ? 

There is, then, emotions of the sublime in morals, as 
well as in the works of nature, or the physical energies 
of man. But it is to the morally sublime — in the great 
and magnanimous enterprises of man, in this latter day, 
that I wish to invite the attention of all young men of 
this city this evening. And permit me here to congrat- 
ulate you, that you are permitted to commence another 
year, under circumstances so peculiarly favorable, and 
in the delightful anticipation of the same kind and mu- 
nificent mercies — permit me to wish you a "Happy 
New-Year." 

Though you are now in health and hope; and com- 
forts smile around you, yet, alas ! against some of your 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



13 



names it may be written, " This year thou shalt die." 
And for others of us, the blessed Saviour may now be 
interceding, saying, " Spare them this year also." 

But how changed the scene with some of you, since 
the last new-year's day. The bosom that was then rent 
with anguish and sorrow, has now become calm and 
tranquil. Some, who were then dreaming of happiness 
and long life, have, alas! disappeared from among us 
for ever ; and not a few present, who were then with- 
out hope and without God in the world, are now rejoic- 
ing in hope of a glorious immortality beyond the grave. 
And, O, it is my constant desire, my ardent prayer, 
that the blessed God may make many of you heirs with 
his dear Son, before the close of this present year, to 
the transcendant blessedness of the heavenly felicity. 
" There remaineth yet very much land," fyc. 

These are the words of the Lord to Joshua, admon- 
ishing him that he was now an old man, and must soon, 
be gathered to his fathers. It is thought he was at that 
time not less than one hundred years old. He had been 
a warrior from his youth up, and renowned for his mil- 
itary prowess and zeal. Joshua and Caleb were the 
only two then living, of all that came out of Egypt. 
Joshua, with the infirmities of old age upon him, could 
do but little more in the field of conquest ; and yet 
there was much more land to be subdued. But it was 
left for the young to accomplish. God had, amid signs 
and wonders, with a high and mighty hand, brought out 
of Egypt his ancient people, the Jews, and by a wise 
decree, he determined they should wander forty years 
in the wilderness, until all the old and idolatrous men 
should die, and thus be prevented from corrupting the 
youth. God gave the Jews all the land of Canaan for 
B 



14 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



their inheritance; it was iheirs, therefore, by grant, and 
they were commanded to possess it. 

The old men having perished in the wilderness, the 
labor, the danger, and the honor of its conquest was 
reserved for the youth. They were not only to subdue 
and conquer the Canaanites, but they were to be the in- 
struments in the hand of God, of advancing his cause 
and the glory of his name in all the surrounding na- 
tions. Hence, they became the hope of Israel, the stay 
and the staff, as well as the ground of their future pros- 
pects and glory. 

Thus God gave his ancient people a portion of the 
earth, which was filled with the most deadly and hostile 
foes, against whom, he promised that he would nerve 
their arm, so that one of them should chase a thousand, 
and two of them should put ten thousand to flight. So 
God has given his Spiritual Israel, the whole earth, 
which is now filled with the most embittered and well 
disciplined foes, who make darkness their pavilion, and 
thick darkness of moral night, their hiding place. 

Casting our eyes over this extensive field, we see 
nothing but wide wasting desolation around us, and the 
beacons of idolatry and superstition, lifting their towering 
heads amid the swarming millions of the population of 
this field, which, most emphatically, is the world. We 
see, then, that there remaineth yet very much land to 
be possessed. 

Yes, in our very midst, there is much to pain the eye, 
and sicken the heart of - every moral beholder. Our 
friends, for whom we have long sighed, and wept, and 
prayed, and at the door of whose stubborn hearts, the 
Holy Spirit has long been knocking, are yet unconcerned, 
and remain alike, unmoved by the thunders of Sinai, the 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



15 



terrors of God's law, the voice of conscience, or the 
peaceful news of heavenly grace. Thus, constantly, 
are we reminded of the unaccomplished promises of 
heaven, that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge 
of the glory of God ; and as constantly are we con- 
strained to say — " There remaineth yet very much land 
to be possessed." 

The hope of our fathers, of the Church, and of the 
world, rests upon the young men. We are the crown 
of the rejoicing of our fathers. Let us hear their ex- 
hortations to us : "Be ye, therefore, very courageous, 
and cleave unto the Lord your God, and one of you 
shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God, he it is, 
that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. 75 And 
their prayer, like Moses' is, " Let thy work appear 
unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children, and 
let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and 
establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the 
work of our hands, establish thou it." 

The whole world is given to the Church, as her field 
of labor, and the sphere of her benevolent operations ; 
and though darkness, gloomy as night, now covers most 
of it, yet upon its length and breadth, its mountains and 
valleys, its fields and forests, its palaces and hamlets, is 
to be poured the light of eternal day. Let us then feel 
assured, that " There remaineth yet very much land 
to be possessed." And therefore, permit me in the 

1st. Place , briefly to survey this field ; and 

2d. The agency of Ziorts sons, in accomplishing its 
redemption from moral death. 

The field, says our adorable Saviour, "is the world," 
which is yet to be 4 ' filled with the knowledge of the 
glory of God," 



16 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



The kingdom of Christ was spoken of in prophecy, 
not as then existing, but as yet to come. " In the days 
of these kings" says Daniel, "shall the God of Heaven 
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ; and 
the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall 
break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and 
it shall stand for ever." 

Again, says the same author, "I saw in the night, 
visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, came 
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of 
days, and they brought him near before him, and there 
was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, 
that ali people, and languages, and nations, should serve 
him: his dominion, is an everlasting dominion, which 
shall not pass away; and his kingdom that which shall 
not be destroyed." 

Says David, as mouth of the Almighty, "I have set 
my king upon my holy hill of Zion ; ask of me and I 
will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the 
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." 

The existence of the Christian Church, and the great 
prosperity attending her in these latter days, is but the 
commencement of the fulfilment of these glorious pro- 
phecies, which is to roll her onward in unrivalled splen- 
dor, "until her light shall go forth as brightness, and 
her salvation as a lamp that burnetii." 

Triumphant, as has already been this heavenly con- 
stituted kingdom, it is only yet seen like a dim taper, 
twinkling amid surrounding gloom, while over more 
than seven hundred millions of our unhappy fellow men, 
ignorance and bigotry hold an unbroken dominion. 

The harvest then, is truly great, but the laborers are 
few, very few indeed, with but here and there a soli- 
tary One to dispute the empire of moral night. 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



17 



Look for a moment, if you please, upon America. 
If you can pierce through the thick foldings of that 
dark mantle which surrounds her — I mean not our 
happy Union — these blessed United States, illumined as 
they are, form an honorable, a glorious exception to 
the whole world. But, look to Greenland, clothed in 
eternal snows, and glittering with mountains of ice, 
with a population of more than thirty thousand souls, 
sunk down in the grave of moral pollution. 

Newfoundland, swept with the wintry polar blast, 
two-thirds of the entire year, with a population of eighty 
thousand wretched beings, possessed of souls immortal 
and precious as our own, bound in chains of the most 
sottish superstition and deplorable ignorance, yet, all 
hastening to the tomb, and the fearful retributions of 
an eternal state. 

Ascend, if you please, the James, upon the Rocky 
Mountains, and look down upon the Russian and British 
possessions : then turn to the West, and gaze upon the 
numerous tribes of reel men. See from the Pacific Ocean 
to Hudson's bay, unnumbered thousands of human be- 
ings, "without one cheerful beam of hope, or spark of 
glimmering day," and instead of the voice of gladness 
and the melodious notes of Zion's songs, there rises up 
to your high elevation, the hoarse and discordant war- 
iong, and the furious savage yell. But — 

" The sound of the church-going bell, 
These valleys and rocks never heard, 

Never sigh'd at the sound of a knell, 
Nor smil'd when a Sabbath appeared," 

Scattered over these immense regions, are thousands 
of Adam's sons, but no messenger of mercy to welcome 
these wandering hordes to the Lamb of God and to the 
B2 



1? 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



cross of Christ ; but all around is cold, and cheerless 
as a winters midnight at the poles. 

But pass a little farther down, and again ascend the 
highest eminence of the Cordilleras, and look down 
upon the provinces of Mexico, as they slumber in their 
Papal chains, and amid the glittering tinsel of Popish 
mimicry, forget their own salvation. O, how inviting 
is this field, all white to a rich harvest. And yet, un- 
happy Mexico may almost say in the language of an- 
other, i t No man careth for my soul." 

Let me ask you again, young gentlemen, to ascend 
the Chimborazo, and look down upon South America. 
Here the same dreary prospects present themselves 
to our view. The iron hand of cruel and relentless 
oppression rests heavily upon the people ; while the le- 
gitimate offspring of the crimsoned, mother Kirk, sit- 
ting enthroned in the superstition of the people, riots 
in all the " abominations of desolation.'" The deadly 
streams which incessantly flow from the Papal sea, 
are ever corrupting the fountains of life, and rolling 
over the length and breadth of this unhappy country, 
the desolating waves of misery and death. 

It is true, there has risen up a few master spirits, 
such as Bolivar, and attempted to throw off the yoke 
of intolerable cruelty and despotism ; but scarcely a 
single effort made to save the soul, or effect its moral 
emancipation. Midnight assassins, lawless banditti, 
mobs, and internal factions, are clothing this land in 
tears and sackcloth, and crimsoning its rivers with 
human blood. Scarcely along its whole line, from 
Cumana to Cape Horn, is there heard the voice of the 
sons of God, or the ministry of his word : but bigotry 
and superstition in all their horror reign. Yet this very 



FOR. BENEVOLENT LABOR, 



19 



land is given to the Ohurch, and she will yet possess it 
The peaceful sceptre of our great Immanuel, will be 
swayed even here, and his peaceful kingdom shall fold 
in its ample embrace, preparatory to the splendors of 
an eternal state of glory, this renovated portion of the 
earth. 

But we must not dwell longer here. We will extend 
our vision along towards the rising sun, and reverse the 
order of light as it comes from the East, and trace the 
distant streams towards their fountain head, and look 
upon the field of Europe. 

Here are more than one hundred and eighty millions 
of the human family, thousands and thousands of whom 
are destitute of the appointed means of grace, and are 
groping their way in midnight darkness to the tomb. 
One nation only, seems to have broken the long and 
fearful spell of diabolical enchantment, and to have 
awakened to the great duty of evangelizing the world* 
The glorious and electrifying influence of reformation, 
has crept along, until thrones and sceptres, and 4 ' all 
the insignia of prescriptive authority," begin to trem- 
ble to their overthrow. May God grant, that reaction 
shall shake the powers of despotism, until the thrones 
of arrogated power shall be scattered like the dust be- 
fore the summer's threshing floor. France, that theatre 
of cruelty and blood, which was for many years been a 
slaughter house to the Church of Christ, even now, al- 
most without exception, hugs the chains of Papal 
power. 

Italy, the land of classic story, and of sweetest song 
— Italy, the birth-place of mystic Babylon, and the 
mothe? country of anti-christ — the seat of the Beast — • 



20 



SURVEY OP THE FIELD 



the throne of the great red dragon— still bows her obe- 
dient neck to the Popish yoke. 

The day-star has, indeed, arisen upon some parts of 
Europe, and rolled away the mists of her cheerless 
gloom. But, alas, in most places, where Religion has a 
name to live, it is almost dead. Its disheartened friends, 
oppressed and borne down under despotic governments ; 
persecuted with relentless fury : driven to the dungeon 
and the stake ; hated and despised by authority ; with 
a " coalition of all the powers that be, 99 against them, 
feeble as they are, they stand, however, a lasting mon- 
ument of God's sparing mercy. 

Spain and Portugal, celebrated only for their 
cruelty and crimes, stand as everlasting monuments 
of infamy and disgrace. Here, for the testimony 
of the glorious resurrection of the dead, flowed the 
best blood of her noblest citizens. Here, the dear 
Lambs of Christ, groaned in the dark vaults of their 
accursed Inquisition. Here, the embrasures of hell 
were opened, and blood flowed from every scaffold. 

But I will not recall those soul-revolting times, when 
" thousands of deserts were filled with exiles, and 
thousands of prisons w r ith confessors ; when red-hot 
plates of iron, and pincers were made to burn and tear 
the quivering flesh ; when chaldrons of boiling oil, and 
burning brazen bulls, and seats of fire and flame," 
were but the milder punishments of that day. Day, 
did I say? No : that night, that dark and fatal night, 
when " thousands of women were widowed, and chil- 
dren orphaned,'' when thick and heavy drops of cold 
and clammy sweat gathered on the beholding multitude 
ias they stood gazing upon the mangled bodies of their 
expiring friends. "O, cursed bigotry, cursed in heaven. 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR, 



21 



but cursed more in hell. Persecution, daughter of big- 
otry, walked the earth from age to age, and drank the 
blood of Saints with horrid relish, and was drunk, and 
in her drunkenness dreamed of doing good." O may 
some wave of dark oblivion blot this foul record from 
the deeds of horrid death. But this very land which 
has drank the blood of martyred thousands, shall yet 
break out in springs of living water. 

The almost four hundred millions of Asia, are either 
Pagans, or else under the council sway of a bloody 
Mahomed. It was in Asia, where lived our first pa- 
rents ; where Enoch and Elijah ascended up to heaven; 
where Noah built his ark ; and where lived the holy 
prophets. It was in Asia, where Christ was born, and 
the theatre on which he performed his mighty deeds, 
and where, eighteen hundred and thirty-seven years 
ago, he expired upon the Cross, in sweat and tears and 
blood. It was here, he ascended up on high, amid 
shouts of angels and the blaze of his Father's glory. 
It was here, where the Gospel was first preached — 
Churches planted, and Christ walked amid his golden 
candlesticks. 

Alas ! how changed. Where shone the Temple of 
Solomon, in unrivalled splendor — where, bled the con- 
secrated victims on Jewish altars — and rose the smoking 
incense up to heaven — where, stood the lofty towers, 
and rose in superlative grandeur the palaces of nobles, 
and the "thrones of Judgment," — where, glittered 
the spires of christian temples, as they pointed the be- 
holder to that temple " not made with hands, eternal in 
the heavens," are now seen the Monkish Convent, the 
gilded Pagoda, the miserable tent, and the long train of 
wretchedness and want. Here, Mohamed has driven 



22 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



his desolating car, amid fields of blood and slaughter* 
This has, indeed, been a crimsoned field, a great Gol- 
gotha. Here, the son lights the funeral pile of his 
widowed mother, and witnesses unmoved her dying 
agony in the flames. Here, 11 Casts and Bramins, and 
Shasters, and Sooders," Barbarian and Scythian, bond 
and free, meet in one common sink of moral pollution. 
The Ganges, the Burrampooter, and the broad Irrawad- 
dy, roll along their numerous dead and dying, prepara- 
tory to the purity of their fancied heaven. O, could you, 
young gentlemen, ascend the lofty mountains of Thibet, 
and look down on Tonkin, and Siam, yea, on all the In- 
dies, you would be constrained to weep tears of blood. 
Ignorance and superstition, in all their hydra forms, dark 
as hell, sit brooding over this unhappy, but fair portion 
of the earth. The demons of idolatry, bigotry and 
superstition, have here erected their throne, and hold 
an almost undisputed sway. But eternal thanks to 
God, that while the foul-mouthed calumny of this unholy 
triumvirate, has blown an accursed and withering blast 
over the fairest portions of Asia, that the blessed Gos- 
pel has found its way in the very temples of their gods, 
and their united power begins to wane. 

We may once more turn our eye to long afflicted, 
and poor degraded Africa, for ages past the seat of 
rapine and murder, of slavery and death. Why all 
these smoking hamlets, these wasted fields, these fleeing 
natives, this " crimsoned sod, yet slippery and red 
with the traces of recent murder V' 

Ah, look to yonder "dark slave ships hovering around 
the coast 7 ' like vultures for their prey. But deplorable 
as is this land, at the present, yet, from the Mediter- 
ranean to the Cape, she is to stretch out her hand unto 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



God, and the bond men of Ham, are to become the 
freed men of Shem* But time will not permit us to 
take even a cursory view of the countless islands, with 
their teeming population, lifting up their heads amid 
surrounding waters. Suffice it, however, to say, that 
with but very few exceptions, their entire population are 
bowing down to the most beart-sickening and revolting- 
idolatry 

In many of them, human victims are constantly bleed- 
ing upon the altars of their gods, while children are 
roasted in brazen images. The genius of man, and his 
moral intellect, are here chained in perpetual bondage, 
while a cloud, deeper than midnight, and impenetrable 
as the 4 4 blackness of darkness which envelopes the 
damned in hell," hangs over these wretched lands, and 
shrouds their swarming millions in everlasting night 
Thus, wq have briefly surveyed this land which God 
has given to the Church, and we find it to be a "recep- 
tacle of moral pollution, in which Satan has erected his 
standard," and around which in thick array, he has 
gathered his whole paraphernalia of diabolical enchant- 
ment. With this mighty preparation, like a "strong 
man armed," he designs to ruin the fair fabric of God ? s 
glory, and bind in chains of everlasting bondage the 
whole family of man. 

O, how gloomy the prospect ! how deplorable this 
condition of our fellow man! "How universal the 
conquest which Satan has achieved !" "In surveying 
the world at this period, it seems to be one vast tophet ! 
not inhabited by active, living beings, but strewed with 
dry and whitening bones, disgusting to the eye, abhor- 
rent to the heart, and with nothing to soothe the agony 
of soul, or relieve the painful vision, save here and 



24 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



there a lonely cave, from which some faithful witness 
dares occasionally to venture, and prophesy upon the 
slain." 

But these dark abodes, these habitations of cruelty, 
are all included in the grant and in the covenant of pro- 
mise to the Son of God, as the land of Beulah, the 
Goshen of the earth. Soon, then, in them will com- 
mence the unclouded empire of heaven's eternal glory — 
when rapturous pseans of seraphic joy will roll through 
their valleys, and be echoed from their hills — when no 
Achan in all the joyous camp will embitter the glorious 
victories which God will give to Israel. But then our 
great and glorious Immanuel — the delight and the joy of 
angels — will sway the sceptre of universal empire, and 
reign king of nations, as he now does king of saints. 
To the agency of Zion's sons, under the direction of 
Jesus Christ, and the sanctifying influence of the Holy 
Ghost, is left the moral renovation of this revolted uni- 
verse. But it may here be asked, is there any hope of 
final success, after eighteen hundred and thirty-seven 
years have accomplished so little ? 

But for a moment look at the analogy between the 
moral and the material universe, and see how uniformly 
those changes which are of the greatest benefit to man 
are slow and gradual. The fields which wave their 
rich and golden harvest, may be destroyed by the pass- 
ing tempest in a moment, and yet it requires almost the 
entire year to perfect them. " The desolation of a prov- 
ince by an earthquake or a volcano, may be the work 
of a single hour ; but months, and years, and ages have 
been necessary, ere the gradual deposition of alluvial 
soil has clothed the rocky valley of the Nile with the 
harvest and fertility of Egypt, or produced the Bengal 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



25 



from its parent Ganges. 75 So does God work in the 
moral world, and produces the most glorious results by 
a slow and steady process. 

But the work will go on ; it cannot stop. It may, it 
has, experienced its seasons of adversity; but it still lives. 
And here I will say, in the language of the eloquent 
Wayland, " Let the dark cloud of infidelity overspread 
Europe, cross the ocean and cover our own beloved 
land — let nation after nation swerve from the faith — let 
iniquity abound, and the love of many wax cold — even 
till there is on the face of this earth but one pure church 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, all we ask is, that we may be 
members of that church — God grant that we may throw 
ourselves into this Thermopylae of the moral universe. " 

Thus, young gentlemen, have we taken a cursory 
view of the moral destitution of the world, and beheld, 
aias! its largest portion veiled in darkness, and "filled 
with the habitations of cruelty." Yet we are assured, 
that, by the moral efficacy of the glorious gospel of 
Jesus Christ, it shall be so renovated as to exhibit but 
one splendid empire of our great Immanuel. Which 
will lead us to notice, in the 

2d. place, The agency of Zion'ssons in accomplishing 
its redemption from moral death. There is one charac- 
teristic of the gospel, of transcendant excellence ; and 
that is, its perfect adaptation to combine with its moral 
efficacy the physical and intellectual energies of man, 
for the emancipation and redemption of the soul. This 
furnishes to every laborer in the vineyard of the Lord 
Jesus, abundant evidence that he shall not labor in vain, 
nor spend his strength for nought. 

To bring about that period, when the "mountain of 
C 



26 



SURVEY OP THE FIELD 



the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of 
the mountains, and exalted above the hills, and all 
people shall flow unto it," God has appointed various 
instruments and means, possessing in themselves, how- 
ever, no intrinsic excellence or virtue, yet rendered 
powerful and mighty, through God, for the destruction 
of iniquity and sin, and for bringing men into subjection 
to the law of Christ. 

Among the most prominent means of Divine appoint- 
ment, for evangelizing the world, is, 

I. The ministry of reconciliation. 

It is ordained of Heaven, that "through the foolish- 
ness of preaching" all that believe shall be saved. The 
end of all preaching is "to persuade men to become 
reconciled to God," to receive and obey the gospel, to 
follow after holiness, and to cultivate peace with all men. 

It has, therefore, the noblest of all ends in view, the 
production of immortal holiness, and of unending bless- 
edness and joy in the souls of men. Upon this, God 
has set the broad seal of his high approbation, and 
abundantly assured us, that by the preaching of the 
gospel he is more especially glorified, and hence, more 
peculiarly pleased, than with any other effort of ours, 
or any other thing that transpires in this present world. 
To accomplish all the ministry aims to do, he gave the 
gospel, and himself instituted the ministry. For this 
end, he unbosomed his own beloved Son, and sent him 
to live and die in this sin polluted world, and to rise 
again as the first fruits of, and living witness for, the glo- 
rious resurrection of all his people. For this end again, 
he sent his Holy Spirit, to change, renew, and sanctify 
the heart — to support and conduct the soul to heaven, 
its native home. 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



27 



The ministry, again, aims at the entire renovation of 
this whole earth, and it will never stop, until 

<'One song employs all nations, and all cry, 
Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us ; 
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks 
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops 
From distant mountains catch the flying joy, 
Till, nation after nation taught the strain, 
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round." 

In fine, the ministry of God's sacred word shall go 
on in its moral conquests and triumphs, until the world 
in kindness shall exhibit the picture, and appear a copy 
of heaven — until every unkind and malignant passion 
shall be banished, and tenderness and sweetness of dis- 
position and heart return and take possession of the 
human breast ; and that pure benevolence, which con- 
stitutes so much of the felicity of heaven, control all 
our actions, and spread a lustre and loveliness, unknown 
before, over all the inhabitants of earth, and make it 
bloom in all the verdure and loveliness of man's ancient 
Eden. 

That the ministry of reconciliation is designed to ac- 
complish all of this, is evident from the fact, that where 
preaching does not exist, Religion with all its hallowed 
richness is never found ; and that those persons who 
seldom attend the preaching of the word, scarcely ever 
become religious. For demonstration of this, we need 
only look to ourselves and those around us. Were con- 
versions among the heathen ever known, or individuals 
reclaimed from idolatry, where the gospel was never 
preached ? Such instances do not occur. It is by the 
"foolishness of preaching," that the "wilderness and 
solitary places" are to be converted into fruitful fields, 



28 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



and the " desert to bud and blossom as the rose." The 
pulpit, then, 

"Must stand, acknowledged, while the world shall 6tand. 
The most important and effectual guard, 
Support and ornament of virtue's cause." 

1. To answer all the ends of preaching, it is neces- 
sary that ministers be thoroughly educated, with special 
reference to that sacred office. It was said by the prophet, 
that in the latter day "many shall run to and fro, and 
knowledge be increased/' One object then in preaching, 
is so to increase the "knowledge of the glory of God/" 
that it shall " fill the earth/* 7 This only can be done 
by educated men, men who are deeply imbued with the 
spirit of holiness, and who have made the sacred oracles 
of truth the subject of deep and most critical investiga- 
tion. If, then, one prominent object in preaching, is to 
increase knowledge, then preachers must possess no 
ordinary share of knowledge themselves, in order to 
impart it to others. Ministers must have all their ac- 
customed theological stores laid up before they com- 
mence, and then they are to keep pace with the rapid 
march of science in all its new discoveries and daily dem- 
onstrations. This can only be done by young men. 

You have, then, young gentlemen, these two facts 
before you: first, that the ministry is the great instru- 
ment for the conversion of the world; and second, that 
a qualification for the ministry requires the early and 
entire consecration of body and of mind. So that the 
redemption of this world is dependent, under God, upon 
the agency of these young Samuels, at the sacred altar. 
Science is pouring its light, like the effulgence of the 
sun at noon, upon this field of labor, and in it are legions 
of well-trained, thoroughly disciplined, and highly cul * 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



29 



tivated ranks of embittered foes. Infidelity, in all its 
varied forms, comes up as the bane of every good, and 
combining as it does, with rapid facility, with every spe- 
cies of vice and iniquity, it forms in its compounds a 
hydra monster, deadly in his opposition to every thing 
holy. Subtle and most seductive in his insidious move- 
ments, he sometimes moves in a brilliant circle, amid the 
most abstruse and refined sciences ; and then again his 
course is entirely concealed in the " darkness of his own 
depravity." With such enemies to encounter, it requires 
vigilance and wisdom in the servant of God — -he must 
be a man " thoroughly furnished," well trained and 
equipped, or he will be defeated and foiled in the moral 
conflict. Can you doubt, then, young gentlemen, that 
the eyes of the world are turned to you in glorious hope, 
and expect, through you, as messengers of God, to see 
thousands bowing to the cross of Christ, while infidelity 
shall be constrained to hide its bruised and deformed 
head ? 

If then, it requires such an amount of learning to 
sustain the ministry at home, against all the infidel ob- 
jections and cavils which are thrown out against the 
gospel, how much more knowledge is necessary to carry 
this gospel into the very centre of the empire of dark- 
ness, and especially to give the swarming millions of 
Pagan idolaters, in their own jarring dialects and lan- 
guages, the word of God to read ? 

Who, young gentlemen, are to become the future 
translators of the sacred volume of eternal truth? Cer- 
tainly it must be young men. You cannot expect that 
old men will commence studying those languages which 
require the strength, the vivacity and the vigor of youth 



30 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



to accomplish, in order to translate the word of God- 
Hence, you see, that to fill this noble department of the 
ministry of reconciliation, the eyes of the whole church 
are turned to you — and they expect that, under the great 
Head of the Church, you will gird yourselves for this 
important calling. 

2. Another instrument ordained of God, to bring about 
the redemption of this world, and which rests too upon 
young men, is the cause of Missions. On whom does 
the important duty rest, of leaving the endeared and 
sacred circle around our own loved fireside, and all the 
blessings of civilized life, for the rude and savage bar- 
barity of heathen lands? Who are called to breast every 
storm, brave every danger, endure every privation, haz- 
ard the extremities of every clime, cross oceans, and 
work their persevering way amid perils and dangers, 
and briars and jungles, to carry the lamp of life to those 
who 1 4 sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of 
death?" Assuredly this duty rests upon young men ; and 
the world expects they will perforin it. We do not be- 
lieve that old men are called upon to inhale the noxious 
vapors of every clime, or to endure the hardships and 
privations of a missionary life. Neither do we believe, 
from the nature of thing3, that they can properly qualify 
their minds for the moral duties of those important sta- 
tions, even were their physical abilities adequate to the 
task. The hope, then, of the Church for its glorious 
extension in heathen lands, rests upon young men ; and 
as the agents of God, they are to subdue that portion of 
the land which yet remains to be possessed. 

Neither is the Church less sanguine of her ultimate 
success in the field of home missionary enterprise. She 
expects young men will traverse hill and dale, field and 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



31 



forest, endure the mountain storms, the wintry blasts, 
and the privations of the wilderness, to carry the bread 
of life to starving thousands. She expects to see them 
"burning and shining lights," and through their instru- 
mentality, she expects to see not only the " abundance 
of the sea converted," and the forces of the Gentiles 
yielding to the high and holy commands of heaven ; but 
she expects the wandering and scattered tribes of Israel 
will be gathered into this promised land, with the "ful- 
ness of the Gentiles." 

3. I cannot here enumerate the various Bible and 
Tract Societies, Sabbath Schools, and all these institu- 
tions, recognized of heaven, as choice weapons against 
all that exalte th itself against God — the darkness of 
Paganism, the delusions of Mohammed, the superstitions 
of the Jews, and against "spiritual wickedness in high 
places." Suffice it to say, that the world and the church 
alike, look to young men, to manage all these concerns 
and institutions, which are the result of more mature 
experience and wisdom, and of riper councils. Our fa- 
thers have planned and drawn the outlines of a mos^ 
splendid system of benevolent operations ; but they look 
to their sons to carry out those plans in all their prac- 
tical bearings upon the family of man. We hazard 
nothing, then, in saying, that to the agency of Zion's 
sons is reserved the honor and the labor of subduing 
that large portion of the land which yet remains to be 
possessed. And to enlist all your powers in this blessed 
cause, I have three considerations to present you: 

1. To labor in this field will be for your interest. 
Solomon says, " Men will praise thee when thou doest 
well for thyself." Will it not be for your interest to 
enjoy peace of mind, and a calm and blessed tranquility 



33 SURVEY OP THE FIELD 

in all your pilgrimage? Where can this be enjoyed, but 
in the path of duty, and in obedience to the commands 
of Christ? In all your efforts you will be associated with 
those choice spirits, that blessed few, who, amid the 
cavils of infidels and the sneers of the World, " follow 
hard after God." For— 

"Piety has found 
Friends in the friends of science, and true prayer 
Has flowed from lips Wet with Castalian dews* 
Such was thy wisdom* Newton, childlike sage, 
Sagacious reader of the works of God, 
And in his word sagacious. Such too thine, 
Milton, whose genius had angelic wings, 
And fed on manna* And such thine, in whom 
Our British Themis gloried with just cause 3 
Immortal Hall, for deep discernment praised, 
And sound integrity not more, than famed 
For sanctity of manners undefiled." 

Such will he your companions in this field of labor— 
u blessing and being blessed. " By choosing Christ for 
your portion, and coming up to his help against the 
mighty, he will sustain you here, make you a blessing 
to yourselves— he will give you a victory over death and 
the grave, so that through their fear, you shall be no 
longer in bondage. 

2. To be a laborer in this vineyard, will be for your 
interest in the world to come. Conscious, as you are, 
young gentlemen, that this is not your home, you yet 
seem to forget that it is the seed time, and that the re* 
wards of eternity will be the harvest ! All the rewards 
in the next world, will bear as much analogy to our con- 
duct in this, as the harvest bears to the seed sown* Upon 
a moment's reflection, then, you will perceive, that to 
sow precious seed here, will be to your interest, inas- 
much as you will reap the harvest which this seed will 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR, 



33 



bring forth in the world to come. Who of you, would 
exchange the blessed reward of Morrison, or Luther, 
Swartz or Buchanan, Martyn or Judson, Bunyan or 
Howard, for all the diadems that ever sparkled upon the 
brow of monarchs — or for all the recompense they 
ever expected beyond the grave % Our Savior has told 
us, that even a cup of cold water tendered to the thirsty, 
in the name of a disciple, shall in no wise lose its re- 
ward. Be assured, then, young gentlemen, it will be 
for your interest here and hereafter, to enter with all 
your power into this extensive field, 64 all white to the 
harvest." 

2. Another motive I wish to lay before you to induce 
you to become fellow-laborers with us in the vineyard 
of the Lord, is, the glory of God. Jesus Christ has 
suffered, and purchased unto himself a peculiar people; 
and as a reward of his sufferings, the Father has given 
to him this earth, and he designs to glorify his Son in 
its moral redemption and subjugation to the sceptre of 
his righteousness. The work is commenced, and Christ 
as the King in Zion, now calls upon his people to labor 
themselves, to induce others to enter his service, and 
still to pray his Heavenly Father to raise up more la- 
borers and send them into the field. With these instruc- 
tions from the great Head of the Church, we solemnly 
call upon you, this evening, to lay aside every hostile 
weapon, and enter his service, that you "may have life, 
and have it more abundantly." Every accession to his 
disciples and the number of his faithful followers, spreads 
new glory and joy in heaven, and makes the redeemed 
of the earth to sing for joy. Herein is Christ honored, 
and the Father glorified, in the redemption of thousands. 
His glory is advanced by every conquest of his king- 



34 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD 



dom. Nothing so animates the saints as the spread of 
Messiah's glory, assured as they are, that — 

"Jesus shall reign, wher'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run; 
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, 
Till moons shall wax and wane no more." 

If, then, you delight in the triumphs of Messiah's 
kingdom, and rejoice to see how, 

■ "Like a sea of glory, 
It spreads from pole to pole," 

you will be emulous to excel others in your efforts for 
the advancement of this kingdom. 

3. The last motive I shall lay before you will be, the 
peace and happiness you will produce in others. We 
have surveyed this field of labor, briefly, it is true, yet 
we have seen enough to pain the eye and sicken the 
heart, and to constrain each to say "Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do," in the moral conquest of this re- 
bellious world ? 

You have seen, young gentlemen, the darkness of 
Paganism, audits deep rooted idolatry; you have looked 
upon the crimsoned path of bloody Mohammedanism ; 
you have seen the licentious abominations of corrupt 
Infidelity, and the infernal triumphs of the man of sin. 
All of this is to be banished from the earth, and peace 
and tranquility reign forever. All that the gospel has 
accomplished in a single heart, it will accomplish in all. 
How humble, how kind, how gentle, it makes the most 
guilty! The lion and the tiger are changed to the meekness 
of an unoffending lamb. All that it does for a single indi- 
vidual, rendering him a pattern of moral dignity, it will do 
for every individual, and for the world. Then shall the 
bloody clarion be hushed in eternal silence, and the 



FOR BENEVOLENT LABOR. 



35 



nations no more be shocked with the sight of "garments 
rolled in blood. 99 The dark and dreary regions of earth 
will brighten as the glorious gospel approaches, and be- 
nignly smile as she pours her healing virtues upon these 
waste and barren places. This blessed state of things, 
young gentlemen, as agents under God, the world expects 
you to bring about. And for it, your reward will be rich 
and eternal in the heavens. 

Having commenced this year under circumstances of 
such peculiar mercy and favor, yet having no security 
that you will live to see its close, let me entreat you, by 
the uncertainty of life and the fearful retributions of an 
unending eternity, to which you haste, to seek now the 
pardoning mercy of that God who "waiteth to be gra- 
cious," that you may not only enter his " courts with 
songs of joy," but his vineyard, as successful and faith- 
ful laborers, with a determination never to quit it, till 
you hear a voice from heaven, saying — 

"Child, your Father says, comehome" 

What a glorious change will then await you ! But our 
finite powers are inadequate to contemplate the resplen- 
dent scenes of ineffable glory which will be unfolded to 
us "when this mortal shall put on immortality." 

" We are able only to survey 
Dawnings of beams, and glimmerings of day; 
Heaven's fuller affluence mocks our dazzled sight — 
Too great its swiftness, and too strong its light." 

Our faith, only, can follow a departing spirit, as it 
wings in holy triumph its ascending way, and reaching 
at length the "summit of the everlasting hills, an un- 
known scene, in endless varieties of loveliness and beauty, 



36 



SURVEY OF THE FIELD. 



presents itself to his cloudless but astonished vision. 
Here he joins with angel and archangel, cherubim and 
seraphim — all the blood washed throng, in ascribing honor 
and "praise and power and might and dominion, to hin; 
that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever."' 
And there, young gentlemen, may we, with all this as- 
sembly, and every friend of Jesus, sing Hallelujah! 
Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! 



INTRODUCTION. 



h is but the part of that duty, which, under present 
circumstances, I feel that I owe to myself, to the young 
men of my congregation, and to my God, to vindicate his 
most sacred cause, and to prepare the young men who 
may give heed to the admonitions of wisdom — meeting 
them in every lane of the city, and in every corner of 
the street — to answer those claims which are reasonable 
and just, and which society is now constantly making 
upon them. 

Never were more vigorous efforts made, than now, to 
plant the moral Upas tree in American soil, whose poi- 
sonous leaf and deadly fruit, like the night-shade and 
the hemlock, withers every flower that blooms within its 
reach, exhaling a vapor ruinous as death, and chilling as 
the grave. The enemies of the Christian's hope, and 
the Christian's God, seem to think that no efforts, how- 
ever expensive or difficult, should for a moment deter 
them in their course of libertinism and moral death. 

And what is that object to be obtained, which warrants 
all this toil and this constant sacrifice, which they so 
unceasingly make? Is it to rob Death of his sting, or 
the grave of his terror? Is it to furnish an antidote to 
all the miseries of life, by opening to the cloudless vision 
of. the pious -soul, the future glory and splendid mansions 



38 



INTRODUCTION. 



of eternal rest 1 Ah ! would to God it was ; but no! no! 
It is to rob life of all its joy; religion of all its hallowed 
richness ; the sinner's Friend of all his efficacy to save; 
the Christian of his undying and immortal hope ; heaven 
of its ineffable blessedness and glory; and to roll a cloud 
of deep and impenetrable gloom upon the brightest pros- 
pects earth ever knew. It is, in a word, to blot out the 
great luminary of the moral firmament ; to close lip 
every star ; to hang the heavens in the drapery of pa- 
gan night ; and to roll a volume of desolation through 
the scathed and blighted earth. Such are the aims, and 
such will be the triumphs of Infidelity, when its iron 
hand shall grasp the destinies of man. 

Zion's watchmen have hitherto, upon this all impor- 
tant subject, been but half awake. The enemy has 
come in like a flood, and with giant strides, the whirl- 
wind's desolation, and the lightning's scath, has marred 
the meted symmetry, and uprooted some of the fairest 
trees in nature's garden. While, then, the legates of 
the skies have slept, the enemy has sown his noxious 
tares. And, alas! in a congenial soil, they have taken 
a deep and bitter root 

It cannot seem presumptuous in me to address a few 
lectures to the young men of this city, upon their pos- 
itive and relative duties. I am myself but a young 
man, and perhaps too inexperienced to assume the prov- 
ince of a teacher to others; but the kindness and atten- 
tion so far shown me by the young gentlemen of this 
city, has induced me to believe, that, however feeble, 
my efforts will meet with a kind reception. 

I was surprised to see a course already marked out 
for me, in these contemplated lectures, by the editor of 



INTRODUCTION. 



M 



the infidel paper in this city, far from the course I de- 
signed to pursue; and I could not but reflect, and apply 
to himself the language of another, upon a similar oc- 
casion : "Hast thou come to torment us before our 
time?" 

I hope I may not be disappointed in having both your 
attention and your presence; but more especially the 
presence and approbation of the God of the universe — 
the great Head of the Church, while I shall attempt to 
show the claims of society upon you. 



CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 



"And Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made 
him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph."— [1. Kings xv: 28. 

From these words we learn, that industrious and 
prudent young men did not escape either the notice or 
the reward of this most wise and powerful king of Is- 
rael. Neither have such young men passed unnoticed, 
in any period since, and never will they, while industry* 
benevolence and virtue are considered traits of charac- 
ter worthy our imitation and regard. 

Man was made for society and for usefulness. It 
was not designed by his Creator that he should live for 
himself alone; but for the benefit and happiness of the 
whole family of Adam, with whom he stands connected. 
There are certain principles, upon which depend the 
usefulness, the prosperity and the happiness of every 
society and body of men, and a neglect or violation of 
which always produces misery. And just in proportion 
as those principles are practised, will be the prosperity 
of such a community* 

It will be assumed as a fundamental principle, that 
the whole duty of man, with all his varied relations and 
connections in life, is made to move in this circle, and 
to terminate upon these objects exclusively — ourselves* 
ourfelloiv men, and our God, 



CLAIMS OP SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN 



41 



Whatever, then, can contribute to the peace, the 
prosperity, or the happiness of either of these objects, 
we are at once most solemnly bound to perform, to the 
full extent either of our physical or moral ability. These 
principles assume a character so nearly self-evident, 
that the very attempt to demonstrate them would only 
seem to lessen their paramount importance and claim. 

There are some men, it is true, who, in the full force 
of a misguided zeal, in attempting to secure the honor 
and the worship of God, seem almost entirely to anni- 
hilate all private claims and reciprocal duties to their 
fellow men. There are others, again, who, in attempt- 
ing to carry out the broad and philanthropic principles 
of universal benevolence to man, seem to forget that 
which is their own just due, as also their obligations to 
their Maker, and thus make apparent benevolence stand 
out in bold relief, at the expense of private rights, and 
of private devotions. There is yet another class, who, 
intent alone upon private devotion, maintain an almost 
entire seclusion'from the world; never enter into the ne- 
cessary and lawful business of life; bear no part in the 
great and noble enterprises of the day, and seem to live 
only for themselves — forgetting that God and the world 
have strong and unceasing claims upon their public and 
open and active engagedness, and that they are as much 
bound to make their benevolent exertions bear upon the 
public good, as individual happiness. It requires but 
little philosophy, or acuteness of perception, to discover 
the ruinous tendency of either of these principles and 
practices. They alike thwart the great designs of the 
formation of society, and render abortive the noblest 
efforts and designs of man. 

D2 



42 CLAIMS OP SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN, 

The duties which are required of us are in exact pro- 
portion to our ability to perform. For "it is required 
of man according to what he hath, and not according to 
what he hath not." Hence, "to whom much is given? 
of them much will be required." 

Now let us for a moment look upon society around 
us, and fix our eyes upon the most interesting portion 
of it, and see to whom God, in his all-wise providence, 
has, under every circumstance, committed the greatest 
amount of talents and means to answer the various ends 
and designs of our creation. Can we, upon this point, 
hesitate for a single moment ? Are we at a loss to deter- 
mine to whom belongs the moral renovation of this 
revolted universe % And into whose hands is to be com- 
mitted the mighty power of the press — the keys of the 
halls of science — the fountains of knowledge, and the 
destinies of the w r orld ? 

No, we cannot mistake — we cannot err, upon the 
noontide clearness, and the absolute certainty of this 
most interesting subject. It is to the young men of our 
country, that God has so gloriously committed those 
heavenly things " into which the angels desire to look ; ?? 
and through which, by the sanctifying power and agency 
of the Holy Ghost, the sons of Zion will bless and save 
mankind. With these considerations before us, let me 
invite the candid attention of all the young men present 
this evening, to the claims of society upon them. And, 
in the further developement and analysis of this subject, 
we will — 

I. Show these claims to be reasonable and just. 

II. Some of those principles which it will be necessary 
both to possess and to practise, in order to qualify you 
to meet such claims. 



CLAIMS OP SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 



m 



III. That course of conduct which will incapacitate 
you to meet the claims of society upon you. 

We are in the first place to notice the claims of soci- 
ety upon young men, and show them to be reasonable 
and just* When we speak of society , we would not be 
understood as being local, either in view or in feeling — 
but to embrace the world at large. Benevolence, which 
consists in doing good to all men, can only be limited by 
the family of man ; therefore, wherever man is found, 
there exist also these claims, growing out of the very 
nature and constitution of things; and hence, of neces- 
sity, they must be founded in righteousness, and sup- 
ported by truth. 

All the nations of the earth have turned their atten- 
tion to the young men among them. The Babylonians, 
Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and 
Romans, all enacted laws, and formed societies and in- 
stitutions calculated to make them vigorous and strong, 
both in body and in mind, and to bring into the most 
active exercise all the mental and physical powers they 
possessed. It was by operating upon the young men, 
that the great conspirator, Cataline, attempted to over- 
throw the liberties of Rome, knowing, as did the proud 
Tarquins of still former days, that if he could succeed 
with this class of society, his unholy object would be 
obtained, and the liberty of Rome be lost forever. 

It is the young men that are the hope of our country; 
the bone and muscle, the nerve and sinew, the safeguard 
and depositary of our future glory ; as well as the rising 
hope of the church. Whilst this most interesting class 
of society are preserved uncorrupted and uncontami- 
nated by the dissipating and licentious principles of the 
day, and when they come up in a measure pure, and 



44 



CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 



with knowledge and enlightened minds, they lay broad 
and deep the foundations of social order, and stand as 
an unsealed barrier for the liberties of their country, 
while around them smile peace and happiness and all the 
blessings of social life. 

Holding, as in a measure they do, the future destinies 
of the world, they have engaged the attention of the be- 
nevolent and the good, to secure their moral purity. 
Scarcely is there a trait more prominent in the blessed 
Bible, than the purely benevolent concern manifested 
every where upon its sacred pages, for the rising gen- 
erations of men. 

Having, I trust, not altogether misjudged my own 
feelings upon this subject, I have felt it a duty to address 
a few lectures to the young gentlemen of my association 
and my charge. My object, therefore, will be to sus- 
tain, as far as my ability permits, the claims of society 
and of the world upon young men ; and in doing so I feel 
that I am discharging a most delightful duty, and ren- 
dering, I trust, a no less important service to my coun- 
try and to my God. Permit me, then, to say — 

1. That this claim of society upon young men, is of 
paramount and overwhelming importance. For, this 
world, which is now the receptacle of moral pollution, 
of misery, and death, is to be changed, and to become 
a habitation of holiness. The demon of ignorance, 
bigotry and superstition is to be dethroned — the long and 
fearful spell of diabolical enchantment is to be broken — 
Africa is to be redeemed, and break the chains of her 
slavish bondage — Asia to be disenthralled and emanci- 
pated from the manacles of a debased idolatry — Europe 
is to be made to resound the high praises of heaven — 
and America to become the moral Goshen of the uni- 



CLAIMS OP SOCIETY LTON YOUNG MEN. 45 

verse — while all the islands of the sea shall wait for the 
glorious day of their salvation. This is all to be ef- 
fected by the moral power of the young men of this 
age. For another generation shall not pass away, till 
most, if not all, of these things shall be accomplished. 

If, then, the standard of the blessed Messiah is to be 
planted in every clime— if the banners of the cross are 
to be seen floating upon every breeze under the whole 
heavens — if the melody of Zion's songs, and her har- 
monious notes are to be heard above the hoarse murmur 
of the restive flood, and to mingle with the wind and sound 
of every portion of the earth — if man is to come up 
from the dank and noxious vapors of his moral cell, into 
the broad sunshine and the luminous circles of science 
and refinement — if, from the mire of human depravity, 
he is to be exalted upon Mount Zion, rendered luminous 
by the glory which surrounds it, where " trees of life 
wave their ambrosial tops," and rivers of salvation roll 
their living tide down its verdant sides. And all of this 
is to be accomplished by the agency of young men. 
How else, then, can the claim upon them be other than 
fraught with the most important consequences 1 

If the time is coming when the thrones of cruelty and 
despotism will be scattered, and all the insignia of pre- 
scriptive authority— -when man shall enjoy all his unal- 
ienable rights, and walk in the majesty of himself, and 
live in the freedom which God has given him — and all 
this is to be done by the moral power of young men — 
then we see again the transcendant importance of those 
claims which society has upon them ; and the reasona- 
bleness of those brilliant hopes, to which their peculiar 
circumstances and energy have given birth. 



46 CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 

Again : we can look forward to a few short years, 
and see the high posts of honor and of trust, of respon- 
sibility and power, all vacated. The venerable, grey 
headed servant of Christ — now zealous in his sacred 
calling, will then have ceased to warn his fellow men ; 
and his lips, now eloquent with sacred truth, will be 
sealed in the unbroken silence of death. The monarch 
will have parted with his crown ; the warrior with his 
laurels ; the statesman with his celebrity; and the scholar 
with his short-lived but hard-earned fame. Who, then, 
will fill all these vacant places ? Who will lift up the 
warning voice in the mountain of God's holiness ? Who 
will mould the yet rising mass of mind around, and 
stamp it with the impress of virtue ? Who will stand 
the noble and daring advocate of virtue's cause ? Who 
will lead in the councils, or guide in the affairs of state ? 
O, it will be the young men of our times. Is it too 
much, then, to say, that upon them society has claims 
infinitely more important than they may have, as yet, 
anticipated or believed ? 

2. These claims are perfectly reasonable and just. 
In all ages of the world men have sought for principles, 
the exercise of which would secure the prosperity of 
such as should carry out, to their full practical extent, 
the principles upon which hung all their hopes for future 
prosperity and greatness. It has been thought that the 
refinement of mind, or the cultivation of intellect, would 
do this. Thousands and thousands have, therefore, 
looked to education alone, as the basis of national pros- 
perity, and of individual happiness. Upon this subject, 
men have been perfectly enthusiastic ; and there has 
seemed to be a spirit of rivalship and emulation between 
legislators and orators, statesmen and divines, philo.so- 



CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 



4T 



phers and poets, to excel, if possible, each other, in their 
high praises of schools and seminaries of learning, as 
the summum bonum of all good. But, alas ! it has been 
discovered, by sad experience, too, that there are no moral 
qualities in intellect — that men may be wise and wicked 
at the same time. 

It is not indeed assumed, neither can it be proved, 
that knowledge itself corrupts ; but amid the circum- 
ambient and ever powerful temptations, whfch inces- 
santly follow hard after a nation's prosperity, the 
impotency of knowledge to redeem and purify, is dem- 
onstrated by the pages of universal history. Indeed, 
those very nations, who, for ages stood pre-eminent and 
towering above all others, distinguished alike for science 
and the fine arts, were, at the very same time, equally 
distinguished for voluptuousness and crime. 

Others have supposed that Reason, either a kind of 
moral instinct in man, or an unerring, omniscient deity , 
is to be considered as our guide to happiness, or as the 
basis of national prosperity. But, alas ! the sad reverse 
of this is taught in the history of all nations. What 
has reason ever done to demonstrate its ability to " unite 
moral purity with national prosperity?" Did it ever de- 
velope the character of God, the purity of his govern- 
ment, or the destinies of man? Did it ever dispel the 
moral gloom that rests upon the empire of mind, or 
repel the invasion of superstition, bigotry and imposture ? 
No — its incompetency to the task, is the demonstration 
of every age and of every hour. 

Again : Philosophy has come in with a universal 
challenge of admiration, for its wonder-working power 
in the formation of national prosperity, and in the pro- 
duction of national purity, as the result of its sapient 



48 CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 

and unerring intuition. But one single fact, writes an 
everlasting veto upon all its high pretensions, and con- 
signs it with the already prescribed list of impotent co- 
adjutors. And that fact is this, — Philosophers never 
reformed themselves, Cicero acknowledged this. "Do 
you think, " says he, "that those precepts of morality 
had any influence, except in a very few instances, upon 
the men who speculated, wrote and disputed upon them? 
No — who is there, of all the philosophers, whose minds 
and manners were conformed to the principles of right 
reason ? Who of them ever made his philosophy the 
law and rule of his life, and not merely the occasion of 
displaying his own ingenuity? On the contrary, many 
of them have been slaves to the vilest lusts." Here 
ends the fancied splendor and illumination of philosophy. 
It could not even save its warmest votaries. 

Again : others have thought that wealth must come 
within the purlieu of national perfection, prosperity, 
and greatness. But, alas ! how delusive and ephemeral 
are these golden dreams of elysian happiness and pros- 
perity, based upon the power of wealth alone ! Instead 
of elevating to proud triumph, wealth has been a canker 
worm at the root of the broad spreading tree of liberty, 
until the leaves have begun to wither and the fruit to 
fall. It has debased the mind, enervated the body, cor- 
rupted the principles, and sapped the very foundations 
of the mightiest kingdoms that ever ruled on earth. 
What now, is the modern effeminate Italian, in all his 
enervating luxury, compared with the hardy Roman, in 
the days of Roman greatness, though he breathe the 
same balmy air, and smiles under the same cerulean 
sky? The epitaph of departed greatness will be written 
upon the broad pillars of every national temple, where 
wealth and luxury sit enthroned as presiding deities. 



CLAIMS OF SOCETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 49 

* Alike have the genius of man, and the wisdom of his 
political councils — though the boasted stability of a na- 
tion's prosperity- — been unable to perpetuate freedom, 
or the blessings of the social compact. We may plan 
like the brethren of Joseph for the destruction of his 
dreams ; or Haman for the death of Mordecai ; or Eng- 
land for the slavery of America ; or the "younger 
Pitt, in his gigantic coalition, to check the increasing 
power of a bloody Bonaparte. " And yet, in the wisest 
coalition of the powers that be, we may not only be dis- 
appointed of obtaining our end ; but the very means we 
used to prevent a dreaded result, will be the very best 
means to hasten it on. 

What then, I ask again, is the foundation of a na- 
tion's prosperity and greatness % I turn to the young 
men — the flower, the wall of defence, the rising hope, 
the future glory of any people. Is it too much, then, 
to say, that upon them are turned the eyes of this entire 
nation — that by them is expected the exercise of those 
principles, which, like the lever of Archimedes, will 
raise to the highest rank and the proudest eminence 
ever attained by any nation under heaven, our own be- 
loved country? Is it too much to anticipate, that through 
the moral agency of the young men of this generation, 
the splendor of that promised millennial day shall burst 
in all its effulgence upon the world, and roll back to eter- 
nal Erebus the heavy clouds of moral night ? Ah, no! 
The day is hasting to its consummation, when all these 
things will be seen in their glorious light, and felt with 
all their soul-inspiring joy. And is not, then, the claim 
society thus has upon young men, as instruments in 
God's hands to produce such a state of transcendant 
blessedness, reasonable and just ? 
E 



50 



CLAIMS OP SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 



It is in young men, where strength and vigor are 
found. The infirmities of age disqualify our fathers 
for deeds of noble daring. They cannot endure the 
toils of the field of conflict, nor the dangers of the mis- 
sionary life. What can be expected of the aged, in 
making all the sacrifices which the interests of Zion 
now demand ? It cannot be expected that they can labor 
and be foremost in all the new and arduous moral enter- 
prises of the day ; breast every storm ; brave every 
danger ; endure the rigors of every inhospitable clime, 
and meet in deadliest conflict the moral champions of 
error. Who, then shall do it ? Or are we doomed to 
the heartless reign of lawless bigotry ? Bigotry ! the 
blackest, foulest fiend that ever escaped the pit of woe ! 
or, in the language of one of the most eloquent men at 
the Irish bar — " She has no head, and she cannot think ; 
she has no heart, and she cannot feel ; when she moves, 
it is in wrath ; when she pauses, it is in the midst of des- 
olation. Her prayers are curses ; her communion is 
death; her vengeance is eternity ; her decalogue is 
written in the blood of her victims ; and if she stoops 
for a moment from her infernal flight, it is to whet her 
vulture fang for keener rapine, and replume her wing 
for a more sanguinary desolation !" We appeal from 
this infernal, grave-stalled fury. But to whom? Ah! 
surely, to whom, but to the young men, for our salvation 
from the reign of so fearful, so despotic a monster ? 

What revolution is there, or has there ever been, that 
the nerve and vigor of young men could not accomplish'? 
What result, however splendid or useful, ruinous or 
disgraceful, which the energy of young men is incom- 
petent to effect I Institutions, and thrones, and powers, 
and kingdoms have been overthrown, when the young 
men, by the corrupting influence of false principles, 



CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 51 

were ready for revolution, and put forth their strength. 
What has modern Europe presented, but one vast and 
crimsoned field of blood and carnage, where her noblest 
sons have been marshalled for the deadly conflict ? The 
young Hetaria have broken the mightiest arm of power 
in Europe ; made the Turkish crescent wane ; and the 
weakened and enfeebled energies of disheartened Greece 
to become vigorous and strong, and that classic land to 
move again in the constellation of her ancient glory. 

Let our young men once be roused — kindle their en- 
thusiasm, and there is nothing within the entire compass 
of human power that they cannot and will not accom- 
plish. Their physical force, their moral power, their 
intellectual energy, and their undaunted courage, most 
admirably qualify them for all the claims society has 
upon them. 

Who is it that explores and peoples new countries ? 
Young men. Who converts the waving forests and the 
barren wilderness into the " gardens of civilized life ?" 
Young men. Who gives vigor and enterprise to the 
noblest purposes of man ? The young men. Where 
is the sea by them " untra versed," or the land, how- 
ever remote, by them "unvisited ?" 

Yes : they have, as the standard bearers of Zion ? s 
King, planted the cross on the most inaccessible heathen 
shores — -they have "ascended" the highest "hills of 
Zion" — "died amid the tombs of the prophets," and 
gone up to the upper courts from the land of Enoch and 
of Elijah. In the great political movements and the 
bloody revolutions of kingdoms, the strength of invading 
armies, and of repelling force, has been gathered from 
the young men. But, alas ! in the mightier and more 
noble revolutions of the moral world, they have been in 



52 CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 

a great measure overlooked ; and it is not until within 
the last few years that this subject has been properly ap- 
preciated or understood. But now, in this latter day — 
this day so pre-eminently characterized by blessed revi- 
vals — hope springs up in every pious heart, at the sight 
of such a congregation of young men as fills this house 
this evening. 

With every possible ability and opportunity for doing 
good, and to meet the varied and reasonable claims of 
society, originating as they do in the very structure of 
its organization, as well as from the nature of that rela- 
tion which each sustains to the other, as an integral part 
of the social compact ; and nurtured as are young men 
in the lap of such society, and recognized as the bone 
and muscle, the life and guard of its existence, it would 
be unreasonable indeed to expect, that claims, strong as 
the moral power which they possess, would not be made 
upon them. Every young man, then, should feel him- 
self most solemnly called upon to improve every talent 
he may possess, for the benefit of the world, as well as 
for the community in which he lives — he should tax 
both his physical and moral ability to the utmost, to con- 
tribute his full share to the sum of human happiness. 
In doing this, he will be an honor to the world, while 
thousands shall rise up to call him blessed. 

1. Your country, young gentlemen, has claims upon 
you. She asks you but to reciprocate her kindness. 
She has bestowed upon you liberty, the dearest of all 
earthly blessings. And while the thousands of young 
men in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, and in the Islands of 
the sea, have never tasted the sweet fruit of human free- 
dom, your country has taught you to enjoy, to the full, 
this pure banquet of national blessedness. This liberty — 



CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 53 

this unalienable right of man — was purchased with 
blood ; but not that which flows in your veins. It was 
the blood of your noble, of your patriotic fathers. She 
has built for you her temple, upon the top of which are 
spread out the broad pinions of our keen-eyed and 
soaring eagle, to be the beacon of liberty to the whole 
universe. This precious legacy she leaves to you, and 
asks you, in her own name, to preserve it pure, and hand 
it down to the still coming generation after you. So 
that at the last great day, it may stand as a monument, 
the last to be overthrown, amid the dissolving universe ; 
and as a witness, that amid the universal corruption of 
monarchy and power, there was one nation gloriously 
excepted. 

Again : your country has poured upon you the light 
of Science ; and she asks you to reflect it back again 
upon her, and upon those who shall come after you. 
Is not this a reasonable request ? Have you not the 
ability to do it ? 

Remember, young gentlemen, that the future litera- 
ture of your country depends upon you. The most 
sublime of all the sciences, Astronomy, looks to you for 
the future developements and discoveries of the trans- 
cendant beauties of her lofty and heavenly mysteries. 
You will make them. Yes : you will construct glasses 
and instruments, now unknown and unprotected, by 
which you will astonish the world, by your luminous 
and brilliant discoveries. You will one day be able to 
trace the rapid comet's flight into the now unknown re- 
gions of space. 

Philosophy, also, looks to you for further develope- 
ments of the mysteries of nature. You have, as yet f 
E2 



54 CLAIMS OF SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 

but just entered the extensive field of material con- 
templation. You have only opened the door of her 
secret arcanea, while all within is not half explored. 
You must enter like philosophers, to know her secrets. 
She invites you to an investigation of her recondite 
stores, and to go on from the analysis of one thing to 
another, and from demonstration to demonstration, until 
the gazing universe shall be attracted to the great theatre 
of your splendid operations 

These expectations from you, are founded in reason : 
and hence these claims are just and right. Will you 
meet them? — tell me, O, ye young men present — will 
you meet them % 

But the church of the living God has claims upon 
you. It is the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ that has 
lifted you up to the proud distinction you are now per- 
mitted to occupy. But for this, we should be like the 
pagan nations, sunk down in the valley of the shadow 
of death. We should be bowing, in humble adoration r 
to idolatry the most heart-sickening and revolting. What 
has saved us from the Feudal systems of our ancestors; 
or the Druidical sacrifices of their licentious priests % 
It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that alone, which 
has made us what we are. The blessed Bible — the 
great mirror of the lofty heavens, reflects down upon 
us the celestial purity of the upper world. We thus 
see what heaven is, and what we should be. Without 
this blessed lamp, hung up by the great I Am, to light 
us on our way, we should wander but fugitives and vag- 
abonds on the stormy sea of life, until we went down 
like a lonely bark, foundering amid darkness and tem- 
pest — " without a pitying eye to weep our fall, or a 
friendly hand to record our .struggle." 



CLAIMS OP SOCIETY UPON YOUNG MEN. 55 

It is Christianity alone, that elevates the mind to the 
regions of purity and life. Philosophy, when it has 
done all it can, will then leave you where it found you, 
the victims of seductive vice and folly. Science, pos- 
sessing no moral qualities, cannot purify the soul. But 
RebVion ! — 

" What treasures untold 
Reside in that heavenly word — 
More precious than silver or gold, 
Or all that this world can afford." 

Religion possesses the only redeeming quality in the 
history of earth. For these rich and unearthly bles- 
sings, bestowed on you by the grace of God, Religion 
has demands upon your best services and talents which 
are reasonable and just. Will you answer them, or 
will you not? 

We ask you then, this evening, for an answer — as- 
suring you that it will be for your own happiness and 
interest, here and hereafter, to join in the glorious work 
of moral renovation. Will you come up from the paths 
of folly into all the blessed circles of the pious and the 
good ? Come, and peace, like a broad river, will be 
your reward while here on earth, and heaven, with 
all its glory, hereafter. The years of our duration 
on earth are rapidly numbering, and we shall soon pass 
away forever. "A stone, it is true, may tell some wan- 
derer where we lie ; when we came and when we went 
away; but even that will soon refuse to bear us record ; 
for though the brass and the marble remain, yet the 
inscriptions will be effaced by time, and the imagery 
will moulder away." Then what our hands find to do, 
let us do with all our might, since that dark and fearful 



CLAIMS OF 30CILTY UPON YOUNG MEN. 



night is so rapidly approaching, when no man can 
work — but when our now active bodies will be laid in 
that damp and chilling vault — 

u Where darkness, death, and long despair. 
Reign in eternal silence there!" 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



" For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men: 
Teaching, that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should h>e 
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."— [Titus ii, 12. 

We endeavored, the last Sabbath evening, to present, 
and as far as we were able to sustain the claims of 
society upon the young men of our day. How far we 
were enabled to succeed, we must leave for others to 
judge. But we then promised to show some of the 
principles which were necessary to carry out in all 
their practical bearings, in order properly to qualify us 
to meet, and with honor to ourselves and happiness to 
our fellow men, to answer those claims. 

We may assume, in a word, that it is Religion — 
Religion alone, which can qualify us for all the various 
stations in life. Without it, knowledge loses half its 
power; refinement is without its moral quality, and 
however amiable and desirable, cannot purify the soul. 

We have already seen that elevation of mind, and 
cultivation of intellect, carried to any extent whatever, 
cannot do it. That man may have knowledge, and 
be cruel, licentious and wicked, at the same time. 

We have seen that Reason cannot do it It has 
never united refinement of intellect with purity of heart 
It never has assumed the province of dispelling the 



58 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



mists of moral gloom, or repelling the invasion of su- 
perstition and bigotry. 

Philosophy has come in with a promise to renovate 
the heart and purify the fountains of life. But, alas! 
Philosophy alone could never secure its own votaries 
from moral corruption and death. 

We have seen the impotency of wealth to effect so 
desirable an object. Never has it been inscribed on 
records of national power or fame — of individiual 
prowess or greatness, that wealth alone imparted a sin- 
gle principle of moral purity. Its incompetency to the 
task, as was remarked on last Sabbath evening, is the 
demonstration of every day and of every hour. 

But there are men in our day, who with unblushing 
audacity affirm, that should the revelation of God be 
blotted out and the Bible burned, that man would be in- 
comparably more happy and pure, and society assume 
at once a more elevated and lofty position, guided by 
moral instinct and the lamp of reason. It is not our 
province to enter the inner chamber of such men's 
consciousness — if such a principle as consciousness in 
them exists — and show how flickering and feeble burns 
such a taper amid surrounding gloom; and how the 
most lucid moral demonstrations fall, like Parthean 
missiles or old Priam's darts, powerless before them. 
They are proof against all moral reasoning; being 
shielded by this Vandalic coat of mail. They will not 
— dare not feel the force of moral truth. But since 
they so constantly affirm that man would be happier 
without the Bible than with it; that reason is all we 
want to thus make us happy, let us for a moment see 
what has been the result of reason and philosophy, in- 
dependent of the Bible. 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



59 



Whence comes it that so universal an impression has 
rested upon all men that a divine revelation was neces- 
sary? And how comes it again that such an universal 
impression has gone forth, among all heathen nations, 
that priests had communion with the gods? Now, I af- 
firm that such an impression, so universal and so uni- 
form, can be accounted for on no other principle than 
that the lamp of reason, the light of nature, and the 
power of conscience, were alike deemed insufficient to 
answer the purposes and the expectations of mankind. 
To a solution of this problem infidelity is taxed; but in 
vain. Never can it furnish an answer to this question. 
If a divine revelation be not necessary, why have men, 
as by unerring instinct, so universally expected it? 

About one century before the Christian era, the Sybil- 
line oracles w T ere destroyed by fire. The Roman Senate 
thought it of so much importance, under every conside- 
ration, to repair the loss, that they sent deputations to 
different parts of Asia, and the islands of the Archipel- 
ago; to Africa, and to Sicily. This deputation succeed- 
ed in collecting about one thousand verses in Greek, 
These oracles it is certain, by Cicero's account, 
contained a prophecy of the universal dominion of the 
new kingdom which was soon to come, under a new 
dispensation — which goes most directly and positively 
to confirm this universal impression of man's need of 
divine aid. The impotency of human reason to guide 
man aright was so universally acknowledged, that the 
most celebrated legislators of antiquity thought it neces- 
sary: in order to give sanction to their laws, to profess 
constant intercourse with the gods. Such legislators as 
Zoroaster, Minos, Pythagoros, Solon, Lycurgus, Nu- 
ma, <kc. though armed with all civil and secular power, 



60 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



yet knew they needed superior wisdom and super-human 
influence to meet the expectations of their subjects. 
Hence the reason of all their oracles and auguries, and 
every species of such deception, to blind the eyes of 
the inquisitive and give them all the power they desired 
over the ignorant. And hence their incessant object, 
dorer la Ytlule — to gild the pill. 

Socrates and Plato both confessed that they stood in 
need of such a revelation to instruct them in matters of 
the greatest moment. Says the heathen, but celebrated 
geographer, Strabo, " Whatever becomes of the real 
truth of these relations, this however is certain, that 
men did believe and think them true; and for this rea- 
son prophets were held in such honor, being persons 
who delivered precepts and admonitions from the gods, 
both while they lived and also after their death. Such 
were Tiresias and Amphiarus; and such were Moses 
and his successors." 

O, how gloomy! how wretched! how dark! would 
be this world without a revelation from heaven! We 
should be in profound ignorance and the deepest dark- 
ness about our own origin, as well' as the commence- 
ment of this material universe. But now all is perfectly 
clear and certain. By the light of this divine revelation 
man knows his origin, his dignity, and his high destiny. 
The history of the past becomes luminous by the light 
of divine revelation, and the dark vista of the future 
becomes clear as the noon by this moral lamp of hea- 
ven. But let the pestiferous breath of infidelity once 
blow out this light, and all would instantly revert back 
to the chaotic darkness and confusion of the most deplo- 
rable paganism and idolatry 

Philosophers, in endeavaring to find an attribute in 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



61 



man which would distinguish him from all others of the 
animal species, have called him a religious animal. So 
obvious and distinctive is this attribute in man — this uni- 
versal desire to worship- — that there lives not the man, 
possessed of his right reason, under the broad eye of 
heaven, that does not worship some object. Let philos- 
ophers or infidels find a reason for this universal instinct, 
aside from the absolute necessity of a divine revelation 
existing in the very nature of things. 

But since infidels have boasted so much of the book 
of nature, and the temple of reason, as superior to 
divine revelation, let us for a moment see how men have 
read the book of nature, and what have been their codes 
of ethics drawn from it. I will not here insult the deli- 
cacy, nor shock the sensibility of this congregation, by 
referring to the practices and the principles of the 
wisest class of men among the Egyptians, Persians, 
Chaldeans, or Phoenicians. I will not rehearse the re- 
ligion and philosophy of the various nations of the modern 
Indies. But since modern infidels boast of pure phi- 
losophy, (falsely so called,) as infinitely superior to 
religion, let us take some of their philosophers for our 
example of unity in sentiment and purity in morals. 
The Greeks and Romans were the most polished nations 
on the earth, and cultivated philosophy as the summum 
bonum, the glory of any age and of any people — yet 
these same wise philosophers were perfect sots, and 
dupes of the most revolting superstition. Witness the 
splendid genius of Homer, the father of Grecian poetry, 
taxing his matchless intellect to give dignity to his fab- 
ulous gods and his childish mythology. Socrates, meet- 
ing Alciabiades "going to the temple to pray, stopped him, 
telling him to wait until some one should instruct him 
F 



62 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



how to behave, both to the gods and to men. Plato told 
the Athenians, that "they would remain in a state of 
sleep forever, if God did not out of pity send them an 
instructor." Cicero says, I do not suppose that Arces- 
ilas engaged in dispute with Zeno, out of obstinacy, or 
a desire of superiority ; but to show that obscurity un- 
der which all things lie, and which forced Socrates to a 
confession of his ignorance. And all those who in a 
manner were enamored with Socrates, such as Democ- 
ritus, Anaxagoras, Empidocles, and almost all the an- 
cients, were reduced to the same confession. Hence, 
you see, that neither the book of nature, nor the boasted 
lamp of reason could satisfy these wise inquiring men, 
or tell them what they ought to do. 

Rome had one hundred and seventeen opinions about 
the sumnium bonum, in its Augustan age. The Grecians 
had almost as many gods as men, so that a wit once 
said, " it is as easy to find a god as a man, in Athens." 
Plato confessed that men might lie, who knew how to 
do it. The Grecians worshipped gods and devils alike, 
as do nearly all the heathen nations now. Hesiod 
thought that there were thirty thousand gods hovering 
around the earth. Orpheus reduced the number to three 
hundred and sixty-five; while Varro made three hun- 
dred Jupiters alone. Almost every nation on the globe 
have offered human sacrifices. Millions and millions 
of the human family have thus been sacrificed and of- 
fered upon altars dedicated to the various fabulous gods 
of their country. Temples and fanes were erected to 
all the passions and diseases, fears and evils, to which 
the human family are exposed. Most of these temples 
were sinks of the most filthy, gross, and abominable 
pollution. Debauchery, drunkenness, and shameless 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



63 



prostitution, were the modes of worship. Such, young 
gentlemen, is the tendency of human nature unrenewed, 
and " infidel reason," unaided by divine revelation. 

A large majority of the Philosophers did not believe 
in the immortality of the soul ; and confessed that before 
them all was darkness and uncertainty, and consequently 
all was fearful confusion beyond the little sphere they 
occupied. 

You now see, that of necessity, every barrier to 
vice must be broken down, and that the principles of 
pure morality and true virtue could not be known. 
Hence, revenge was by them considered a distinguished 
virtue ; and pride and self-love were with them the most 
noble and independent principles. Suicide was a mark 
of a strong and heroic mind. Theft was permitted both 
in Egypt and in Sparta. Plato taught the propriety of 
exposing infants in certain cases ; and Aristotle a still 
more nefarious practice, that of abortion. The murder 
of weak infants was permitted in Sparta, by Lycurgus, 
and laws made for its regulation. Such reckless and 
unfeeling laws were enacted, too, at Rome, by Rom- 
ulus, and afterwards approved by Plutarch and Seneca. 
The master had an absolute right to put his slave to 
death, or the father his children. Swearing was com- 
mended by Socrates, Plato, Seneca and Julian. The 
gratification of the most beastly and sensual lusts, was 
openly vindicated and allowed. Aristippus taught that 
it was lawful for a wise man to steal, commit adultery 
and sacrilege, w^hen opportunity afforded. Many of 
the wisest philosophers pleaded for self-murder, as being 
often necessary, as Cicero, Seneca, and others; while 
in the faith of such doctrines, most of them, like De- 
mosthenes, Cato, Brutus, and Cassius, carried about 



64 NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 

with them weapons of death, ready on any emergency 
to put a period to their lives. 

But time will not permit, did we deem it important, 
to follow still farther the light of nature and the lamp of 
reason, and show how the wisest men have followed 
them without divine aid. I think enough has now been 
shown of their interpretations without divine revelation, to 
convince any one, that, should our modern infidels suc- 
ceed in their unholy crusade against the religion of Jesus 
Christ, we should be thrown at once back again into the 
deep shades of pagan night. 

I now appeal to the young gentlemen of this congre- 
gation, and ask them what it is that will prepare them 
to meet and answer all the demands which society now 
makes upon them ? Will any one dare to blow out that 
lamp, which mercy from the throne took down, to light 
us on our way? Will any one dare to follow his incli- 
nation and reason, unaided and unillumined by light 
divine ? I cannot, will not believe there is one in this 
assembly, who would dare, or even desire, were it 
possible, to make the fearful and fatal experiment. 

What, I ask again, has reason or philosophy ever 
done to ameliorate the moral condition of man? When 
did it ever point to the blessed mansions of eternal day, 
and the irresistible force and power of unending and 
eternal rewards, as motives to a virtuous and holy life? 
When did it ever check vice, by the superior attractions 
of virtue? When did it open the grave as a resting 
place, rendered luminous by the glory of a certain and 
blessed resurrection? Ah, never! No, never!! With 
all its boasted light, and power to refine, it never raised 
a single soul to the sublime enjoyment of heavenly 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



65 



things, or to the possession of the pure principles of 
virtue among men. 

Where, then, shall we go to find a solace to all our 
sorrows and afflictions in life — a constant supply for all 
our moral wants? We have seen that reason and phi- 
losophy fail us in times of our greatest need. Their 
highest attainments, or most splendid efforts, never lifted 
their warmest votaries above the sordid interests, the 
licentiousness and corruptions of earth. But amid this 
universal gloom, where shall we look for an instructor? 
We turn our eyes to 

" This book, this holy book — on every line 
Marked with the seal of high divinity— 
On every leaf bedewed with drops of love 
Divine; and with the eternal heraldry 
And signature of God Almighty stamp'd 
From first to last — this ray of sacred light— 
This lamp, from off the everlasting throne, 
Mercy took down; and in the night of time, 
Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow; 
And evermore beseeching men with tears, 
And earnest sighs, to read, believe, and live," 

Yes, this book, "this blessed book," which bringeth 
good tidings to man, is the only hope of earth's redemp- 
tion. It teaches us, " that, denying ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and 
godly in this present world." 

Every individual in this assembly is conscious that 
there exists within his own breast a principle which he 
cannot control as "he does his body. This principle — 
this unearthly something, is subject to no law but the 
law of God. It cannot be confined to earth. In a mo- 
ment it leaves this earth, its own habitation, and every 
earthly thing, and soars away through illimitable space, 
F 2 



66 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



and seems to stand before the throne of God. Again, 
it leaves that high and blessed abode, and passing the 
suns and systems of astronomy, it wings its way amid 
whirling spheres down again to earth and its tenement 
of clay. It is a child of eternity, and though its resi- 
dence is now local with the body, it is deathless and 
immaterial — destined to another, and if redeemed, to a 
nobler existence beyond this world. When we look 
upon any one we loved in the days of their being, and 
see them cold in death — pale, yet wearing the same 
lovely image — when we look upon that eye so often kin- 
dled with friendships sacred flame; that bosom on which 
we pillowed our aching heads; that hand we had pressed 
a thousand times; and those half parted lips, which so 
often impressed a warm and tender kiss — all as natural 
as the soft and gentle slumbers of an evening hour — yet, 
how irresistible is the conviction, that that image before 
us is not the one we loved, but that that one has gone away 
beyond the reach of sympathy, and that lump of clay 
is not all we used to gaze upon with so much pleasure 
and delight. No! No! The overwhelming conviction 
you cannot resist, the rising emotion you cannot check, 
that that body once contained a spirit — a deathless, an 
immortal spirit — to you, perhaps, lovely as a morning 
flower, and sweet as the breath of May. 

This very conviction of the souk's eternal destiny, has 
led men, almost without exception, to adopt some creed 
on religious things. Every infidel, therefore, though he 
may openly profess to deny all religion, yet he does have 
some system of religion, on which he hangs his hope of 
a better state beyond this world. The Pharisees made 
void the " law of God;" but they taught, in its place, 
"their" oral " traditions." Mohammed denied the Bible; 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



67 



but he substituted his Koran. Paine spurned with un- 
holy contempt the book of God; but he wrote his Age 
of Reason; and Zoroaster denied the divinity of the 
Scriptures, but substituted his Zendavesta. 

It is a fact, then, that all men have some religion; 
and that that religion governs them. How necessary, 
then, to have a pure religion — a religion which will 
cleanse and purify the soul, guard our honor, secure our 
rights, unite our strength, confirm our union, and per- 
petuate our power against the world in revolution. 

The glorious religion of the blessed God, revealed in 
the holy Scriptures,, will do this. It teaches us, as in 
our text, that we must first deny " ungodliness, " which 
is a precept morally pure, a rejection of which includes 
every kind of opposition to God, and of idolatry and 
infidelity. It teaches us that we should also deny 
" worldly lusts," which is a precept never found in the 
ethics, the moral codes, or religious systems, of the 
wisest and most enlightened men. It is an adherence 
to such principles as are revealed in the Bible, that ele- 
vates us to the present state of refinement and moral 
dignity we are now permitted to occupy. The religion 
of Jesus Christ also teaches us that we should live "so- 
berly," that is, we should subdue our appetites, our 
passions, and our lusts. This, too, is a moral precept, 
never known in the code of the mere moralist, or found 
in the systems of philosophy; or taught in the temples 
of reason. But the very reverse of this was practised 
and openly vindicated by nearly all the philosophers of 
ancient days, and by most of the infidels in modern 
times. 

You have seen, young gentlemen, in the principles of 
some of the abettors of human indulgence, the dark and 



69 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



nefarious practices which were the legitimate result of 
their publicly avowed sentiments. But in living "so- 
berly," our propensities to evil are subdued, and we at 
once qualify ourselves for every kind of usefulness. 
By following this precept, we invigorate the body; refine 
and purify the intellect, and save the soul. 

But our religion teaches us another precept: and that 
is, that we should live "righteously," or do to others as 
we should wish them to do to us. This is living " right- 
eously;" and by the exercise of this principle, this earth, 
sinful as it now is, would be turned into a blooming par- 
adise of joy; and cruelty and oppression would be known 
in it no more forever. 

There is yet another principle taught us in our text : 
and that is, that we should live "godly, in this present 
world." This principle, also, is unknown to philosophy 
or reason, as it never has been taught by the light of 
either. It embraces the aggregate of all our duties — 
all that will make men happy or wise, useful or good. 

Such is a brief analysis of our holy religion. It is 
not a rival religion; it stands alone, proclaiming every 
other false, and demanding universal homage and obe- 
dience. With this view of philosophy, of reason, and 
of religion, can you be at a loss for a moment to deter- 
mine which will qualify you for usefulness, and to meet 
the claims of society upon you? But here I must be a 
little more particular. 

L Intelligence is an indispensable requisite for sus- 
taining the claims of society upon you. A man without 
intelligence, in this day so pre-eminently characterized 
by intelligence and refinement, is like a house without a 
window, or ship without a helm. Knowledge you must 
have, or sink into comparative obscurity and disgrace, 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



69 



To acquire that knowledge, therefore, which is within 
your reach, you must, 

1. Make a proper estimate of time. Unless we know 
the value of time, we shall not be careful to guard it 
with vigilance, so that not a moment of it run to waste, 
but consecrate it to usefulness. A small portion of our 
leisure time, now perhaps entirely lost, or suffered to 
run in idleness away, if properly employed, would soon 
make us acquainted with history, and with many of the 
sciences, and thus in a very short time we should be 
enabled to acquire a general knowledge of men and 
things, which would be of incalculable benefit 

2. Another important ingredient in the acquisition of 
knowledge is, a proper use of the means, and estimate 
of the value of every facility for acquiring intelligence. 
Without this, your advantages, however great, will turn 
to little or no account. Can you expect without intelli- 
gence to hold that station in the world you would desire, 
and an elevated position in society in this day of won- 
ders, and experiments, and discoveries, and demonstra- 
tions? Assuredly you cannot. Schools and colleges 
are being established every where. The halls of sci- 
ence are opened, like the iEdiles of Rome, to the dwell- 
ers in the vales and on the rocks. The press pours its 
streams of light and splendor alike upon the palace of 
rich and the cottage of the poor; while lyceums and 
libraries unite with periodicals and reviews to refine 
and elevate the mind — which, surpassing all the glory 
of Greece and Rome, make this nation the most learned 
the world ever knew. To keep pace, then, with the 
discoveries in science, the march of mind, and the 
improvements of the day, we must husband all our 
time, improve every passing moment, and lay to some 



70 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS 



good account, by forcing as an auxiliary to enlighten 
and discipline the mind, every opportunity and means 
within our reach. The wants of the world and the 
claims of society, demand this at our hands. 

I am exceedingly gratified to learn that the young 
gentlemen of this city feel such a desire to acquire 
knowledge and to improve their minds, as to induce 
them to make such literary efforts as they recently have, 
at great expense, in procuring libraries and reading 
rooms. May all your expectations, young gentlemen, 
be realized; and through your knowledge may the world 
be blest. 

I will not here remark, that an upright and a virtuous 
character, is indispensable to meet the claims of soci- 
ety — as that will be noticed in another lecture. Suffice 
it here, however, to say, that as our actions are the 
result of principles, and partake of the moral character 
of those principles; then those principles must be pure, 
or else our actions will be impure — for it is a moral 
axiom that no man can be better than his principles. 

But Religion, young gentlemen, Religion alone, can 
purify and save you — can meten you for the inheritance 
of the saints in light, and qualify you for every station 
of honor and of usefulness. It will throw a halo of 
glory and dignity around the fallen, but renovated char- 
acter of man. It will burst asunder the manacles and 
the chains of deep depravity; change the ferocious tiger 
to the meekness of the unoffending lamb. It will elevate 
and assimilate man's moral nature to the glorified na- 
ture of Jesus Christ. It pours upon the understanding 
an ever lucid tide; and through the understanding, the 
splendor and the power of truth upon the heart. In a 
word, it changes the whole character of man, so that 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



71 



from the sloughs of dissipation and the sinks of iniquity, 
it lifts him up upon the mount of God, rendered lumin- 
ous by the glory which surrounds it; and finally trans- 
lates him to the skies, " where angels touch their harps 
of living melody, and saints in sweet response, breathe 
forth to the listening heavens their grateful songs; where 
the breezes of paradise waft the symphony, and the 
bending skies direct it down to earth. " Here he lives 
I and swells the heavenly melody. 

But substitute infidelity for this blessed religion, and 
you would, in the language of Beecher, "blot out the 
moraf orb of day; suspend its blessed attractions, and 
the reign of chaos and old night would return; the 
waves of an unquiet sea, high as our mountains, would 
roll and dash from west to east, and from east to west; 
from south to north, and from north to south; ship- 
wrecking the hopes of patriots and the world. Who, 
then, is the patriot that would thrust out our ship from 
her peaceful moorings in a starless night, upon such an 
ocean of storms, without a rudder or anchor, compass 
or chart? The elements around us may remain, and 
our giant rivers and mountains: our miserable descend- 
ants, also, may multiply, and vegetate, and rot, in 
moral darkness and putrefaction — But the American 
character, and our glorious institutions, will go down 
into the same grave that entombs religion, and our epi- 
taph will stand forth a warning to the world." Such is 
the tendency, and such would be the result of infidelity; 
as we shall abundantly show before we shall have fin- 
ished these lectures. 

Our public institutions and our political principles, 
now the glory of the age in which we live, will, unless 
sanctified and guarded by religion, "lower and dilute 



72 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



the tone of public morals, already, alas! too evidently 
declining; and a vitiated public opinion will send its 
reeking corruption into our senate chambers, our halls 
of justice, our schools, our ware-houses, and our homes, 
until licentiousness, and profanity, and violence, like 
the curse of Egypt, be found a croaking and slimy 
plague, infesting the whole land. Nor may we hide 
from ourselves the fact, that unfriendly influences of 
the most seductive character are busy; that the work of 
national corruption is not left to its own natural course: 
but superstitions which have, in other lands and in other 
ages held the widest sway, are assiduously engaged 
among us in the work of moral corruption. 

" And bold with joy, 
Forth from his dark and lonely hiding place, 
Portentous sio-ht! Owlet infidelity, 
Sealing on obscene wings athwart the noon, 
Drops his blue-fringed lids, and holds them close, 
And hooting at the glorious sun m heaven, 
Cries out " Where is it!'' 

But I must soon bring this lecture to a close. Then 
tell me, oh ye young men present, what will be your 
choice. Will you follow philosophy, falsely so called, 
which will only conduct you to the grave, and when 
shrouded in the habiliments of death and confined in 
your lonely cell, will leave you? Will you choose the 
withering name of infidel, which Lord Byron himself 
thought had something chilling in the epithet? Will 3-0 ti 
assist in breaking up the broad foundations of social 
order; roll the chilling tide of cheerless misery along 
the path of man, and bring the gray hairs of your 
fathers and your mothers with sorrow to the grave, 
over the withered prospects and blighted hopes of their 
beloved, but ruined sons? Oh, no! you cannot, will 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



73 



not make this wretched choice. But instead of the 
dark recesses, and gloomy mazes, and the hidden 
labyrinths of scepticism, we this evening present you 
this blessed Bible — this 

"Wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord! 
Star of eternity] The only star 
By which the bark of man can navigate 
The sea of life, and gain the port of bliss 
Securely.' ' 

Let the principles of this sacred book find a lodgment 
in your bosoms, and its sacred precepts be bound 
around your hearts, and you cannot, will not err. You 
will then follow an unsetting polar star. The Charyb- 
dis may threaten on the one hand, and the Scylla on 
the other; yet you will avoid the dangers of both, and 
enter safely into port. 

" Soles occidere et redire possunt, 
Nobis, quam semel occidet brevis lux, 
Nox est perpetua una dormienda." 

Hope will smile around you, and joy unknown before 
spring up in your path. Then will you come up as 
the moral renovators of the earth, into the wisdom of 
the just. . The triumphant car of redeeming grace, will 
roll in splendid victory, moved onward by your power- 
ful hand; and the now lacerated and bleeding cause of 
Jesus Christ, will find in you an advocate in every 
clime, 

Through your instrumentality, the glorious and elec- 
trifying influence of political reformation will creep 
along from kingdom to kingdom, shaking thrones and 
scepters, and all the "insignia of prescriptive authority;" 
breaking the chains of despotic power, until mitered 
heads and sceptered arms shall yield their ensigns of 
G 



74 



NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



power; until the tree of liberty, planted in the rich and 
fertile soil of pure republicanism, shall send out its 
broad branches, from the Tiber to the ends of the earth, 
and all nations shall sit under its refreshing shade, and 
partake of its delicious fruit 

But more especially, young gentlemen, by the religion 
of Jesus Christ will you effect the universal emancipa- 
tion of the souls of men, from the thraldom of sin* 
superstition and bigotry; and by these moral conquests 
you will send a thrill of joy through all the hosts of 
heaven, and a wave of delighted sensibility will move 
in holy grandeur over the fields of the celestial paradise. 
Yes, by the religion of Jesus Christ you will change 
the whole aspect and moral feature of a revolted uni- 
verse; you will make springs of living water to burst 
out in the parched wilderness, and roll their living, 
healing tides along the flowery vales and the verdant 
fields, rendered rich and fertile by the industrious hand 
of your moral culture. With principles like these, you 
will meet the approbation of God, and in your last day 
you will be blest with an approving conscience, and the 
smiles of indulgent Heaven; your age will be clear as the 
noon, and as a morning without clouds; your sun will 
set in tranquility, and the beams of eternity will salute 
your rising peace. 

God grant you may possess his grace, and labor for 
the eternal reward which shall crown your efforts with 
unfading glory beyond the shores of time. 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked; 
between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.— Mal. 3: 18. 

Said the celebrated Phsedrus: 

"Decipit 

Frons prima multos, rara mens intelligit 
Quod intenore condidit cura angulo." 

u The tinsel glitter, and the specious mien, 
Delude the most — -few pry behind the scene!" 

No effort is necessary, upon this occasion, to prove 
the distinction which necessarily exists between the 
righteous and the wicked. Of the one class it is affirmed 
that they serve God, and of the other, that they serve 
him not. 

The ministers of the sanctuary are under the most 
solemn obligation to return, and discern between these 
characters; and the servant that does not do this, forfeits 
his ministerial charge, and does violence to his high vo- 
cation. We, then, as ministers of the cross of Christ, 
are called upon by all the regard we feel for the souls 
of our fellow men, to come out on the Lord's side, and 
draw the line of demarkation between "him that serveth 
God, and him that serveth him not." It was this sol- 
emn conviction of duty, and a desire to be useful to my 



76 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



fellow men, that induced me in the first place to com- 
mence this course of lectures; and it is my constant 
prayer that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon 
this effort, however feeble. 

It is not by the glorious effects of the blessed gospel 
on the external condition and situation of man alone, 
that we are to estimate its intrinsic value, its superlative 
excellence — but in the gushing springs of pure and un- 
earthly joy, that refresh, invigorate and purify the soul. 
It is inter pr&cordia, which alone deserves the name of 
tranquility and joy. 

Neither is it to the external condition of man, ruinous 
and deplorable as infidelity makes it, that we are to look 
for its withering effects, alone — but to that moral palsy 
which it induces on all the noblo faculties and powers 
of the soul — engendering and quickening with rapid 
growth the most gigantic vices; and rendering dwarfish 
every virtuous principle. It is to show you the impor- 
tance of correct and settled principles of virtue, and the 
dangers of infidelity, that our efforts have been, and 
still will be directed in these lectures. To influence you 
to study — improve and discipline the mind for philan- 
thropic and noble deeds — we shall ever strive. 

"'Tis yours to climb the rugged steep, 
Where learning's laurels bloom ; 
Your upward, onward, course to keep, 
And gild life's transient gloom." 

After having invited your attention, as we have in the 
first two lectures, to the claims of society upon you, and 
to an examination of those principles necessary to 
qualify you to meet them, we then promised to notice 
some of the principles which would utterly disqualify 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



77 



you to meet and satisfy such claims, however reasonable 
and just. Among these principles, I shall notice, as 
being corrupt in nature, and ruinous in tendency, 

I. Infidelity, or scepticism. I mention this first, be- 
cause it lies at the base of those practice's and irregu- 
larities of life, and those aberrations of mind, whieh 
have been the ruin of thousands of our brightest and 
most promising young men. Upon this subject, permit 
me to be plain and candid; for, be assured, " It is not 
a vain thing, because it is your life." 

Infidels, and unbelievers of every grade, constantly 
complain of us, because, they affirm, we treat them with 
unbecoming severity, in our opposition to their princi- 
ples. They do not, however, seem to recollect, that the 
genius of the gospel is in the most direct opposition to 
infidelity. If the one be true, the other must be grossly 
false. If man's happiness is consequent on the one, 
his misery is no less so on the other — and if his admis- 
sion into heaven depend upon the moral efficacy of the 
one, his eternal damnation is consequent upon the moral 
corruption of the other. It cannot be, then, a thing of 
little moment; because, by it, individual happiness and 
salvation are at stake, as well as the future destinies of 
the world. 

Who can look with cold and calculating indifference 
upon that subject, coming down from the skies; bearing 
the stamp of God Almighty; challenging universal admi- 
ration and obedience; throwing a halo of glory around 
itself; demonstrated by unerring prophecy and miracles; 
accompanied by an immense cloud of witnesses; based 
upon the universal expectation of the entire population 
of earth, that such a revelation would be made; scat- 
G2 



79 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY, 



tering in its luminous course, life, liberty and happiness 
rolling from the world the deepest shades of moral 
gloom; dissipating the mists of the tomb; throwing its 
broad beams across the valley and shadow of death, and 
opening to our enraptured vision the glories of immor- 
tality. Who, I say, can look upon a subject so super- 
latively grand, and magnificently glorious ; and, in 
scoffing contempt, knit his brow, and close his eyes, 
and steel his heart against all its claims, and turn away 
and die? 

Surely, it cannot be that man, who, looking through 
the majesty of nature, up to nature's God, sees his per- 
vading Spirit in all his works; views with admiration 
the harmony of nature, and sees that 

"All are but part3 of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body nature is, and God the soul; 
Which changed through all, is yet in all the same, 
Great in the earth as in the ethereal frame. 
Warms in the sun; refreshes in the breeze; 
Glows in the stars: and blossoms in the trees: 
Lives through all life; extends through all extent; 
Spreads undivided; operates unspent. 
To him, no high, no low, no great, no small: 
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.' ? 

The man who thus views the harmony and beauty of 
nature, and through this splendid volume, looks up to 
the great "Author and Finisher*' of all these things, 
will never turn to the dark and grovelling lusts of sordid, 
selfish principles, or hide in the dank and noxious cells 
of infidel philosophy. 

To define infidelity, is quite impossible* It is not a 
system, or creed — it is a perfect negation. Infidelity, 
both in the French and in the Latin, from which it is 
borrowed into our language, means a want of faith or 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



79 



belief— a withholding of credit But when applied to 
the subject of religion, it is to be understood as express- 
ing not only contempt for, but a disbelief in it — a rejec- 
tion of it, and an utter abhorrence manifest to all its 
claims and precepts, however holy, or just or good. 

No person can read the various infidel productions, 
either of the German, the English, or the French 
school, and not come at once to the irresistible conclu- 
sion, that they felt themselves to be lost in a moonless, 
starless night, upon a stormy sea, in a frail and shattered 
bark, without a chart to direct, or a compass by which 
to steer. 

Infidels have ever contended, that the book of nature 
speaks the same language to every nation and individual 
under the whole heavens; and therefore cannot possibly 
be misunderstood — and that every duty of man is ren- 
dered as luminous, and is as clearly defined as an object 
in solar rays. Yet, there is no class of men, who so 
universally and incessantly contradict each other — who 
are at such eternal variance on every principle involved 
in their infidel systems — as infidel writers. We may 
go farther even than this, and say, there never lived 
two writers entertaining the same views of infidelity; 
and there does not now exist two volumes on this subject, 
written by different authors, which do not differ more 
with each other, than any two writers of any two Chris- 
tian denominations, however widely separate. The rea- 
son of their perpetual discords is obvious, in the want of 
settled principles. As they are seeptics, so they doubt 
every thing, and believe nothing! Hence, what one of 
their writers advances, all the rest doubt; and so in turn 
each doubts all, and all doubt each. 

How have all the pagan nations understood this book 



80 



NATURE OP INFIDELITY. 



of nature, so plain that none could possibly misinterpret 
it? How did all the polished sons of Greece and Rome 
interpret it ? And how do modern infidels interpret it ? 
Let their jarring discords settle the question, and furnish 
this irrefragible testimony, that, though sceptics and 
philosophers boast of the clearness of the volume of 
nature, yet no two of them ever read or understood it 
alike — demonstrating its incompetency, alone, to guide 
man aright. And hence, from the days of the subtle, 
but most bitter Celsus, down to the smattering and half 
educated infidels of our own times, there has been a 
perpetual war. 

We have already remarked, that a system professing 
only to disbelieve every thing; based upon no settled 
principles; negative in its nature, and gaseous in its 
elements, does not admit of a logical definition ; and 
hence, in showing its fallacy, we are obliged to gather 
its exploded and shattered elements, to find its original 
combination, and the phenomenon of its existence. 

Infidelity, at best, is but ephemeral and short-lived. 
"It has, 7 ' says an eloquent writer, "no individual sub- 
stance given it in the system of prophecy. It is not a 
beast, but a mere putrid excrescence of the Papal beast 
— an excrescence, which, though it may diffuse death 
through every vein of the body on which it grew, yet 
shall die along with it!" Who cannot see the most 
vivid picture of infidelity in the writings of Peter. 
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last 
days scoffers, walking after their own lusts — as chiefly 
them which walk after the flesh, and despise govern- 
ment; presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not 
afraid to speak evil of dignities; sporting themselves in 
their own deceivings; having eyes full of adultery, and 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



61 



that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls; for 
when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they 
allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wan- 
tonness, those who were clean escaped from them who 
live in error; while they promise them liberty, they 
themselves are the servants of corruption," Had Peter 
lived in our times, he could not have drawn to the life 
a truer picture of infidelity. They sport w ith their own 
deceivings? riot in wantonness and filth; promise others 
liberty, while they themselves are but slaves to the vilest 
and most loathsome corruption! From such philosophy, 
may Heaven deliver us! 

The same confusion and concussion, desolation and 
darkness exists among individuals, that would exist in 
our planetary system, if God for its destruction should 
let 

" Earth, unbalanced, from her orbit fly, 
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky: 
Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurPd, 
Being on being wreck' d, and world on world.' 1 

They have no common center, no attracting point, no 
system, no unity of feeling or purpose. They blow 
out every moral light of heaven; hide themselves in 
thick darkness, and wander about like the blinded Sod- 
omites, to find "the way," into still deeper gloom! 
fearing lest if they come to the "light their deeds should 
be reproved." 

Give to infidels a God who takes no cognizance of 
their conduct; who is so merciful and gracious as 
to smile at transgression; or who, though he should 
inspect the actions of men, would by all means clear the 
guilty — and they would be loud and clamorous in his 
praise; and denounce, with unrelenting severity, all 



82 



NATURE OP INFIDELITY. 



who should oppose him. It is the justice of God which 
drives them to take shelter in the darkness of infidelity; 
and a consciousness that their unrighteous deeds richly 
demerit eternal punishment, that sends them howling 
into the dark labyrinths of scepticism, and the gloomy 
recesses of impiety and shame! 

The deep and settled depravity of the human heart 
is the legitimate source of infidelity. It originates nei- 
ther in reason, refinement, or moral principles, but in 
that corruption of which it is the common sewer and 
sink; into which empty the polluted streams of man's 
depravity. It sets man adrift upon the tempestuous 
ocean of his own passions, and cuts him out from those 
moorings of domestic obligations and blessings, 44 by 
whose cable he might ride at safety from their turbu- 
lence. *'* 

How mean and detestable does infidelity make the 
origin, the nature, and the destiny of man! According 
to this principle, his origin is no higher or more noble 
than the unsavory mushroom that vegetates upon the 
dung-hill without root or seed; or, like the swine, living 
only to gratify his sensual lusts — his destiny only rot- 
tenness and corruption, like the beasts that perish. 

Infidelity being a disease of the heart, and originating, 
as we have already remarked, in its deep depravity, it 
always increases in exact proportion as morals decline. 
Its nature and its most legitimate tendency is, the entire 
subversion of all morals; the destruction of a chaste 
and refined taste for moral excellence, and the cultiva- 
tion of those rank and noxious vices, which, like the 
night-shade and the hemlock, are the most deadly and 
poisonous to the well-being of society. View it as you 
please, it is precocious depravity. Its fruits are rotten 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



83 



before they are ripe! Neither can it be so concealed 
under false garbs and fictitious names, that its seductive 
influence; its dextrous sophistry; the licentiousness of 
its principles, and the profligacy of its practices, cannot 
be read and known of all men. Hence, we say again 
that the servant of Christ who does not expose the cor- 
rupting fallacy of this licentious principle, and so draw 
the vigorous line of demarkation between the righteous 
and the wicked — between him that serveth God, and 
him that serveth him not — as to show the whole world 
who are on the Lord's side, acts unworthy his high and 
holy vocation, and can never lay claim to the possession 
of that pure benevolence which folds in its ample em- 
brace the purity and happiness of man. 

"Facihs decensus Averni, 

Noctes atque dies patet atri januna Distis." 

The gates of hell are open night and day : 
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way. 

The term, infidelity, is generic, and covers the whole 
field of scepticism; embracing atheists of various sects, 
theists, materialists, deists, &c. The varieties of infidel 
sentiment are almost innumerable; as they acknowledge 
no standard author, [every man believes for himself, 
and as his fancy leads him. 

There were at least four prominent sects among the 
ancient atheists, according to Dr. Cudwortn. Some, 
like Aristippus, Theodorus, Biron, and Pyrrho, denied 
the distinction between right and wrong, vice and virtue; 
and thus destroyed all accountability, and the motives 
to virtuous actions. 

The modern infidels or atheists are as much divided 
as were the ancient. Among the moderns, Spinoza, 
Hobbes, and Vanini, have led off, in different directions, 



84 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



their deluded followers. Their center has been every- 
where — their circumference no where. They have 
been loathed, execrated, and abhorred. They, with' all 
their kindred in iniquity, in turns, have been torn by 
phrensied, reproving consciences; and wrung with re- 
morse and agony, they have hurried from the sight of 
men, to find a refuge among their kindred fiends, in 
the regions of utter darkness and hopeless despair. 

But we cannot follow all the different directions infi- 
delity has taken, or the various channels through which 
it has run its desolating course, or the various shapes 
it has assumed to suit the times. One can, however, 
scarcely help smiling at the manner in which the disci- 
ples of one of these infidel scholars handle and lampoon 
those of another. Having no principles im common, 
and agreeing in nothing, save to oppose the Bible, and 
to disbelieve every thing, when they have not been 
fighting Christianity, they have of course been contend- 
ing with one another. 

We might here stop, and ask the whole school of 
liberalists and freethinkers, what they have to offer as a 
substitute for the blessed Bible and our holy religion, 
which they are so anxious to destroy? But could they 
agree on any substitu e? They certainly cannot. Do 
they offer us what they call the splendid volume of na- 
ture? Can they agree in its interpretation? They 
cannot — they ^never have. Do they propose conscience 
alone as our guide and our rule? Did the consciences 
of any two sceptics ever coincide? Never! Would 
they propose theism? Did any two advocates of this 
system ever agree in telling what it was? They never 
did. Would they have us become atheists? No two 
could ever harmonise in defining its nature, or setting 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



85 



its limits. Thus would they rob us of our chart and 
our hope, and leave us nothing but a fearful blank. 
Hence, sceptics agree in nothing but in opposing the 
revelation of heaven ; their unalterable hatred of 
"priests," and universal doubt — dwelling in darkness, 
and making depravity their habitation. 

It is, however, a matter of inexpressible consolation 
and gratitude to God, that the writings of the early and 
bitter sceptics, with all their splendor of intellect and 
acquirement were foiled before the tribunal of public 
opinion Their writings are, at the present time, only 
to be found preserved in the books of the very men 
they attempted to calumniate and destroy, as specimens 
of the vituperation and malice of ancient infidels. Such 
were Celeus, Porphory, and Julian; and such were 
Ammonius, Fronto, and Crescens. 

It cannot be disguised that modern infidelity, even in 
its incipient state, whatever be its pretensions, is but 
little better than atheism — as it directly tends, and leads 
to it. A man does not stop long when he begins to 
doubt; but goes on, till he sinks down into the last and 
lowest state of degradation and impiety. Says a modern 
infidel writer, "Deism is but the first step to reason out, 
of superstition. No person remains a deist, [continues 
he,] but through want of reflection, timidity, or obsti- 
nacy!" Here it is boldly asserted, that deism leads to 
atheism. Thus it is that infidels, having little or no 
regard for the benefit of others, and destitute of virtu- 
ous principles themselves, have done nothing, and 
discovered nothing, comparatively, in the fields of 
science. Moving in the dinginess of a murky atmos^ 
phere, their moral barrenness is natural. As they live 
in moral darkness, so do they under the frowns of the 
H 



86 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



-world. Inhabiting the dens of moral debauchery, and 
conversant constantly with sordid and sensual things, 
their minds become debased, their understandings dark- 
ened, and their intellects chained: while the christian, 
by the pure, the sublime principles of religion, lives and 
moves in an exalted sphere; carrying with him the 
splendor and glory of personal character, and living for 
the well-being and happiness of others. 

But it is now time that I should commence tracing 
infidelity in its practical influence, both upon the mind 
and upon the world. And the first proposition I shall 
lay down and attempt to demonstrate, is — 

That infidelity is subversive of all morals and good 
order in society. 

" On this altar is sacrificed ease, peace, 
Truth, faith, integrity, good conscience, friends, 
Love, charity, benevolence, and all 
The sweet and tender sympathies of life; 
And to complete the horrid, murderous rite, 
And signalize their folly, men offer up 
Their souls and an eternity of bliss 
To gain it. — What? An hour of dreaming joy: 
A feverish hour that hasteth to be done, 
And ends in bitterness of woe." 

This is a true picture of infidelity. To gain that 
which, when possessed, is nothing — a blank — a void — 
the absence of all that is virtuous or good — men sacri- 
fice their souls; despoil the paths of innocence to deco- 
rate and justify triumphant villany; reject the amulet of 
pure religion, for the vapid senselessness of universal 
scepticism — which undoes every thing; unsettles every 
thing, and ruins every thing moral or lovely — with 
head enough to plot mischief and ruin, but without a 
jieart to feel its moral plague, or the quiverings of that 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



87 



most bitter agony it ever brings as the workings of its 
own reward! 

I hope, young gentlemen, to be able to convince 
you of this fact, before I leave this branch of 
the subject. It is a truth that infidels have seldom, if 
ever, attempted to deny, and never to disprove, that 
they are more licentious and profligate in their lives 
than other people. No individual acquainted with the 
dark history of infidelity can hesitate, upon a single 
moment's reflection, to ascribe all that is corrupting and 
disorganizing to it, as a fruitful source of the blackest, 
foulest crimes. It was affirmed of them so early as 
David's time, that "the fool hath said in his heart, there 
is no God. They are corrupt; they have done abom- 
inable works; there are none that doeth good.'' This 
was their character three thousand years ago. And, 
alas! it has not changed for the better at any period 
down to the present time; for they still do " abominable 
works." Infidelity at once destroys every motive to a 
virtuous life, because 

1. It teaches us that our origin is of no higher char- 
acter than noxious weeds or poisonous reptiles; and thus 
debases man to the very lowest grade of animal or 
vegetable existence. 

This sentiment, associated as it invariably is, with a 
kindred belief that man's destiny is of a no higher char- 
acter than his origin, precludes the possibility of his 
exerting high and honorable sentiments, or lifting him- 
self above the vulgar level of his corrupted appetites. 
Subject, as infidelity assures him he is, to no moral 
government; bound by no moral obligations; united to 
his fellow man by no other tie or connection than that 
which originates by time and chance; governed, in all 



89 



NATURE Od INFIDELITY. 



his moral connections and relations, by no other law 
than a licentious taste or swinish lust; born only to eat 
and drink, to sleep and to propagate his species; and 
then to wither away and die — how obvious it is, that, 
upon such a dry and barren stock as this, nothing 
lovely can possibly grow! 

Each member of society, living insulated and com- 
paratively alone; governed by his selfish, sordid inter- 
ests; recognizing no right, but that of power, must 
throw society into the greatest possible confusion; 
destroy all confidence, friendship and good will; and 
turn any community under heaven into a lawless horde 
of midnight assassins. 

" No light, but rather, darkness visible, 
Served only to discover sights of wo." 

I presume it will be a conceded point, that all the 
motives to virtuous conduct originate in the objects 
with which we are conversant, or of the views we 
entertain of them. Now, if our views of these objects, 
or if the objects themselves, are low, sensual, and 
devilish, and these govern our conduct, then, of neces- 
sity, our conduct must and will be low, sensual, and 
devilish, also: And that such is the conduct of infidels, 
we pledge ourselves to prove in the course of these 
lectures. Upon this view of the subject, we see how 
certainly and inevitably infidelity tends to destroy all 
morals and good order. 

" Sunt qui fortunse jam casibus, omnia ponant 
Et nullo credant mundum rectore moveri, 
Natura volente vices et lucis, etanni; 
Atque ideo intrepici, quoxunque altaria tangunt." 

2. Infidelity not only destroys all motives to a good 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



89 



and virtuous life, by debasing the origin of man, but 
it equally subverts all morals and good order, by deny- 
ing his future destiny. 

If men have no existence beyond the grave, then the 
fear of future retribution is at once done away; and the 
motives, drawn from another world, to restrain our 
passions in this, cease to act upon us; and depraved 
nature, having now no restraint, at once assumes an 
unbridled sway — then must there be an end to all virtue, 
all morality, and all good order in society. 

That no man can be required to act in direct oppo- 
sition to his best interests, or greatest good, when 
viewed in relation to the whole duration of his existence, 
and the comprehensive arrangement and bearing of all 
the circumstances in which he may be placed, is a self- 
evident fact, and hence requires no proof. Now, as 
this world, in the estimation of the infidel, is the only 
place of reward or punishment, and even this not con- 
nected with moral conduct ; and this life to end our 
being, so that nothing can be suffered or enjoyed be- 
yond it; then, if the practice of virtue does not promise 
the most joy and happiness at the present moment, it 
ceases to be virtue, and vice is to take its place; and to 
accomplish this, vice, if it promises more enjoyment at 
the present, becomes a virtue, and is to be preferred, as 
happiness is to misery, whatever be its tendency on 
others. 

The greatest amount of happiness in relation to the 
whole duration of our existence, is the primary and 
paramount object, which should ever excite us to action, 
and to accomplish which we should incessantly bend 
our energies and direct our efforts. Hence, if the 
indulgence of the most gross and sensual appetites and 
H 2 



90 



NATTRE OF INFIDELITY. 



passions, however ruinous and destructive to others, 
appears to an individual who views this life as termi- 
nating his existence, to promise more happiness than 
the practice of chaste and virtuous principles; then, 
from the very laws of mind, as well as from the nature 
of the case, he will despise virtue, and choose that vice, 
whatever it maybe, which will procure the gratification 
of some present desire. 

Such is the nature and tendency of infidelity — a sub- 
version of all morals and good order. For, let these 
principles once gain the ascendency, and the man who 
thinks riches will secure the greatest present happiness, 
(removed, as infidelity removes him, from all moral obli- 
gations, and the existence and retributions of an here- 
after,) will rol^ his neighbor in his house or on the 
highway — will bathe his hands in his brother's blood, 
to possess the boon of happiness and bliss. Or, the 
abandoned sycophant, who crawls with the serpent's 
stealth into our houses and around our fire-sides, to 
fatten upon our unsullied reputations, will fasten his 
fangs in the dearest objects of our hearts, when it will 
gratify his depraved and unholy passions. Such is the 
polluted rapine of this heartless, prayerless, and re- 
morseless system ! 

Infidelity, then, becomes the moral incubus which sits 
upon the bosom of devoted affection and love, and turns 
its warm and glowing emotions of tenderness and sym- 
pathy into the chill of death — freezing the pure streams 
of friendship's sacred bliss, and ripening the most unruly 
passions. Under this sentiment, the wife leaves the bed 
of a devoted but heart-broken husband ; the daughter 
her weeping parents' roof — poisoned by the scorpion 
sting of some sensual, starveling alien, and led by his 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



91 



polluted hand down to the chambers of death. And 
drinking again of these dark and polluted streams, the 
father, the husband, and the son become in turn changed 
into the seducers of innocence and panders of iniquity. 
Infidelity, that crimsoned, scarlet plague which delights 
to nurse on human gore, sits spreading out her obscene 
wings to quicken into life the serpent brood of bloated 
and rapacious beagles, who, like hungry vultures, hover 
around every circle of innocence and beauty, instilling 
the poison of asps, and seducing each his victim to de- 
stroy. I appeal to the history, the universal history, of 
infidelity, in the vile practices of its warmest and migh- 
tiest votaries, for a confirmation of what I have said. 
See infidelity where you please, you will ever find it 
the same, moving with the serpent's stealth ; creeping 
into every Eden of domestic happiness ; poisoning all 
that is pure, and polluting all that is lovely. Who then 
will not say, it is disorganizing in its nature, and licen- 
tious in its tendency ? 

Tell me, O ye boasted philosophers — ye splendid 
students of the volume of nature, what is there in all 
your temples of reason to restrain the commission of 
the darkest deeds, when ambition inflames, or avarice 
prompts'? You have blotted out the light of revelation, 
and the existence of a future state ; you have murdered 
conscience in your bosom, and hushed its warning voice; 
you have banished remorse, and the dread of a future 
Judge; you have obliterated the principles of virtue, and 
blunted the sensibilities of your nature — and what, I ask 
again, is to hold you back from the most presumptuous 
sins? Religion cannot do it, for you have it not; virtue 
cannot do it, for you amalgamate it with vice; conscience 
cannot do it, for you have murdered it in your bosoms* 



92 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



Alas ! alas ! but for the blessed influence of religion on 
the formation of our laws, you would turn the world into 
a slaughter-house, and crimson all its rivers with human 
blood. Society would lose all confidence; and all bonds 
of connection, however sacred, would be dissolved at 
once. Pity would be extinguished and affection crushed 
in every human breast, w T hile lawless passion and un- 
bridled ferocity would hold an unbroken dominion, and 
reign in carnage and in blood; and our mother earth 
would give 

" Signs of woe that all was lost!'' 

Who would go into the gambling houses, the theaters, 
and the brothels, which every where infest our cities, to 
find sentiments of honor and of virtue ? Who would 
look to the convicts in our gaols and penitentiaries, as 
examples of piety, and specimens of the moral efficacy 
of religious principles ? As soon would one expect to 
gather the blossoms and flowers of May, amid the 
cheerless rigors of a polar winter. But who w/ould not 
go there to see the result and the ripening fruit of infi- 
delity, growing upon its native soil ? 

It is, young gentlemen, in these charnel-houses of 
moral putrefaction, where kindred sentiments and spirits 
vegetate, and multiply, and rot — from the putrescence 
of which ascends a noxious gas, poisoning all our atmos- 
phere, and forming that moral plague, which walks in 
darkness and wastes at noon-day. 

What has infidelity ever done to redeem the character 
of man, or wipe out of the long, dark catalogue of hu- 
man woe a single stain ? Where did it ever exhibit 
the splendid traits of moral greatness in the hour of 
peril and of danger 1 Where are the bright achieve- 



NATURE OP INFIDELITY. 93 

merits of infidel magnanimity and virtue? And where 
its brilliant discoveries in the fields of science ? As soon 
should we expect a rich and luxuriant harvest on the 
sterile rock of Gibraltar, as the growth of intellectual, 
moral, or virtuous principles, on such a bleak and barren 
soil. The reason is perfectly obvious. Every motive 
to a chaste, refined and virtuous life is done away, and 
the reins of passion laid loosely upon the neck of lust. 

To what e]se, then, does infidelity tend, but to a de- 
struction of all morals and good order in society. Never 
has it ranged the fields of science, or blessed mankind 
by the splendor of its achievements. Never has it 
poured the light of science upon the world, or emanci- 
pated man from the manacles of a debased and wither- 
ing superstition. Never did it " convert a sinner from 
the error of his ways," or "save a soul from death." 
Where is the drunkard or the debauchee, the gambler 
or the highway-robber, reclaimed from the kennels of 
vice, by infidelity ? Where can infidelity point to the 
man of splendid intellect, and a "companion of all 
them that fear God," and say, he is a convert of mine % 
My principles have led him to this sacred eminence* 
Where can it point to a brilliant discovery in the halls 
of science, and say, by infidelity I have done this? 

With whom do you find infidels associated % With 
such men as Ferguson, Euler, Pascal, Boyle, Bacon, 
Locke, Davy, and Newton, in the fields of philosophy] 
Let the history of infidelity answer. Have they been 
associated with such moralists as Beattie, Steele, Rob- 
ertson, Hawksworth, Johnson, and Addison ? Let 
infidelity answer this, too, or turn away its head in 
shame. Have they drank at the Castalian fountain, and 
gone up upon Parnassus to inhale the sacred inspiration 



94 NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 

of poetry, in company with such men as Spencer, 
Waller, Cowley, Prior, Gray, Thompson, Young, Mil- 
ton, and Cowper ? Alas ! they never have. They 
never moved in the honored circle of physicians, with 
such men as Arbuthnot, Brown, Boerhave, Pringle, 
Heartly, Haller, Mead, and Rush. They were never 
enrolled in the splendid constellation of those moral lu- 
minaries that shone with so much brilliancy in the moral 
firmament — I mean such men as Luther, Calvin, Eras- 
mus, Beza, Owen, Pool, Campbell, Lardner, Sherlock, 
Gill, Doddridge, and Gale. When did they ever fill the 
honorable stations of counsellors and judges, in com- 
pany with men like Hale, Melmoth, Forbes, Jones, 
Russell, Blackstone, Erskine, Selden, and Grotius. But 
I will not follow out the long list of statesmen and phi- 
losophers, who have adorned the country and age in 
which they lived, among whom such men as Hobbes, 
Servin, Voltaire, Newport, Volney, Paine, Gibbon, 
Hume. Rousseau, Mirabeau, Altamont, and Emerson, 
would never have been permitted to associate on the 
ground of moral equality. 

Where is it, then, that we are to look to find infidels, 
in their various associations and connections? Assuredly 
we would not wish to load them with unmerited reproach. 
Far be so unworthy an object from our purpose or de- 
sign; but bound as we are by our sacred profession, 
and the solemn behest of heaven, to "re turn and discern 
between the righteous and the wicked," we cannot, dare 
not hold our peace. It is not, young gentlemen, in the 
paths of the virtuous and the good; it is not in the exe- 
cution of those philanthropic and magnanimous enter- 
prises to bless and save mankind, that you are to expect 
to find infidels. But go to our jails, our prisons, and 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 95 

our penitentiaries, or listen to the culprit's confession as 
he swings from the gallows, and learn there the end of 
the infidel blasphemer. 

I do not here assert, that no infidel has ever distin- 
guished himself in the field of science; or that they all 
will come to the prison or the gallows. But if they are 
saved from this end, it will not, cannot, be by any virtue 
in infidelity; for this only tends to this very end, by en- 
couraging vice of the grossest kind. Whatever, then, 
of moral virtue is found in the breast of any infidel, is 
but the remnant of that religious influence he has been 
so assiduous to destroy. For in his own bosom there 
can exist nothing but the faded refuse of blighted faith. 
From the genius of infidelity, I trust, young gentlemen, 
it has been sufficiently proved, that its tendency is a 
subversion of all morals and good order in society; but 
it will be reserved for another lecture, to show this prin- 
ciple boldly and unblu shingly asserted, in the writings 
of the champions of infidelity. 

But I must not detain you longer. Tell me then, in 
view of this picture of infidelity, (true, you will, you 
must acknowledge it to be,) will you choose it, and 
settle down with the cold, heartless, speculative, and 
malignant foes of Jesus Christ? Will you shut the 
pearly gates of heaven against your own souls, and 
open the doors of everlasting damnation, and then invite 
yourselves to enter in? Oh! you cannot -thus stake the 
future destiny of your immortal spirits upon this hope- 
less chance. Sensuality is the very nurse, the mother 
of infidelity; and hence, with its seductive, delusive 
charms it comes to young men, tempting and inflaming 
their strongest passions, until reason leaves her throne, 
and the passions are all set on fire, and then, in the phren- 



96 



NATURE OF INFIDELITY. 



^icd heat and impetuosity of the moment, they thought- 
lessly plunge headlong into ruin, and thus, by infidel 
influence, is withered up the brightest hopes of thou- 
sands. 

There is now awaiting the world, an eventful period. 
The church has had her pagan persecution, and waded 
through it, deep in blood. She has had, too, her Papal 
night of cruel storms; when, from the dark vaults of 
the accursed inquisitions, poured in purple torrents her 
richest blood. Her groans from these caverns of death, 
were heard in heaven, and God awoke to her redemption. 
But there awaits her yet, another furnace — the product 
of infidel wrath — which shall be kindled in fiercer 
flames, and rage with unremitting violence, till all her 
dross shall be separated from the precious metal. Then 
like the unconsumed bush, surrounded by the flame, she 
shall appear again in her primitive loveliness, and shine 
forth in all the splendor of her native glory. Such will 
be her trial and such her triumph. She will arise in all 
her beauty and the glory of her majesty, amid her as- 
tonished and confounded foes. Floods of divine glory- 
will be poured out upon her; w r hile around her shall be 
4i salvation for walls and for bulwarks.' 7 

We invite you to her bosom, warm with love divine; 
and to a participation of her splendid triumphs, and her 
transcendent joys. Then, when the perils and dangers 
of life are over, the gates of the city — the city of the 
great King — will be opened to receive you, amid the 
loud hosannas of unnumbered millions, to the right 
hand of bliss ! 



V 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked; 
between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.— Mal. 3: 18. 



"My hopes and fears 
Start up alarmed, and o'er life's narrow verge 
Look down — on what 1 ? A fathomless abyss! 
A dread eternity! How surely mine!" 

We remarked during the last lecture that infidelity 
was subversive of all morals and good order in society. 
We attempted its demonstration from the very genius 
of infidelity; showing that it was negative in its 
nature, and gaseous in its elements, and agreeing in no 
one principle, except in its opposition to the revelation 
of heaven, and in universal doubt — debasing as it does 
the origin of man to the lowest level of the animal 
creation, and associating his future existence only in 
the various forms of vegetable life; amalgamating vice 
and virtue; destroying every motive drawn from anoth- 
er world, with all its fearful retributions; making the 
grossest vices to become resplendent virtues, when they 
would gratify a sensual passion, or some depraved and 
unholy appetite; hushing the tumultuous voice of a 
reproving conscience, and blunting the sensibilities of 
nature. A principle that would accomplish this, must, 
I 



98 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



from the very nature of its operation, subvert all morals 
and good order in society. 

Such being the tendency of infidelity, it has thus 
shown itself in the lives of all its votaries — which are 
the most lucid demonstrations of its immorality. We 
challenge infidelity to show that such is not its legiti- 
mate tendency and its uniform result. Conscious of its 
truth, they have not attempted to disprove it; but, to 
blind the minds of the inquiring, have attacked the 
friends and advocates of morals and good order, by 
scurrility, low wit, the grossest abuse, and the most 
profane and blasphemous obscenity. With such wea_ 
pons, perfectly accordant with their spirits and senti- 
ments, fought Shaftsbury, Tindal, Morgan, Boling- 
broke, Rousseau, Voltaire, Hume, Volney, and Gibbon. 
But such carnal weapons, however analogous to the 
spirit and temper of infidelity, cannot be tolerated by 
the servant of God, or in the church of Jesus Christ 
The minister of the sanctuary, in the exercise of the 
high and holy functions of his most sacred office, cannot 
stoop down to these moral sloughs, to follow through 
them the vanquished and retreating foes of God and 
man; neither can he, consistently with the moral purity 
and dignity of his heavenly calling, answer the blasphe- 
mous ribaldry of these sons of infidelity; for in this 
consists their, " coup de grace." 

Met, and vanquished, again and again, as infidelity 
has been in the field of controversy; and as often made 
to retire with Ichabodj written upon its broken and dis- 
mantled shield — yet it has as often rallied again; but 
always under a new garb, or false colors, and thus 
comes up again to the moral conflict, under the character 
and form of a new enemy. It was in prophetic vision, 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 99 

that the apostle beheld the Chameleon changes and 
Proteus shapes of this moral monster, which urged him 
to give this timely and friendly caution — "Walk cir- 
cumspectly.^ Every scholar knows, that circumspectly 
is composed of two Latin words, (circum, round; and 
specto, to look:) meaning — walk, looking all around 
you; for, like its great progenitor, infidelity sometimes 
comes with the still and gentle voice of friendship; and 
sometimes with a mighty rushing power; sometimes 
with the serpent's stealth, and sometimes with the lion's 
roar; sometimes in the form of an angel of mercy, and 
sometimes in the form of the great red dragon; boldly 
attempting to draw down a third part of the stars of 
heaven. It sometimes attempts to flatter by deceit, and 
then to terrify by power; and then again to poison by 
its seductive and unhallowed touch. 

Demonstrated, as has been, the corrupting and licen- 
tious principles of infidelity; destroying, as they inevit- 
ably must, and as they universally do, all morals and 
good order in society ; their most hateful and haggard 
principles are developed in the writings of their most 
powerful advocates. And yet, it is not so much to the 
writings of infidels, disgusting and abhorrent as they 
are, that we are to look for the practical influence of 
infidelity, as to their lives. For the moral conduct of 
infidels speaks volumes upon this subject, and forms 
the most lucid paraphrase and comment upon their nefa- 
rious principles. It is this practical influence of infidel- 
ity, as seen in the lives of all its champions, that has 
astonished the world, and stands out to the inhabitants 
of the earth, as the light-house of warning against the 
shipwrecking rocks, which are death to approach. 

We have^analyzed the genius of infidelity; and, ala&! 



100 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE, 



have found it but a compound of moral depravity and 
corruption; and containing the vegetative germ of the 
deadliest moral upas. We will now look to the spread- 
ing branches of this fatal tree, through the medium of 
their press ; and then again we will look at its ripen- 
ing fruit in the lives of its advocates. And we shall 
see that " Men did not like to retain God in their know- 
ledge — therefore they w r ere given up to a mind void of 
judgment, to change the glory of the incorruptible God 
into an image made like to corruptible man, and to 
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things; and 
to defile themselves by abominable wickedness." 

Horace made a true statement of facts, when he 
said — 

" Siluis ubi possiin, 
Palantes error certo de tramite pellit, 
llle sinistrosum, hie dextrorsum abit, unus utrique, 
Error, sed variis illudit practibus.' , 

Whenever error draws us from the path of rectitude, 
we take a devious course. Some turn to the right; 
some to the left; some go into one vice, and some into 
another — all alike deluded, each following his own wild 
and extravagant fancy; but all alike sinful, and guilty 
of shameless transgression. Says Quinctilian, speak- 
ing of the abominations of these wise philosophers, in 
his time, " The most notorious vices are screened under 
the name of philosophers. They do not labor to main- 
tain the character of philosophers by virtue and study; 
but conceal the most vicious lives under an austere look 
and singularity of dress." This has ever been true of 
infidelity, and ever will be. Its tendency is as much to 
cruelty and vice, as that of the needle is to point to- 
wards the pole. 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 101 

Among the Romans, the master had not only the right 
to crucify or torture as he pleased, his slave or child to 
death; but when his servants were old or sick, they 
were either killed or turned out to starve, or sent to a 
dreary island in the Tiber, where they were left to be 
cured by the fabled god, iEsculapius, or perish unpitied 
and alone! O, how u cruel are the tender mercies of 
the wicked." Some of the students of our infidel 
" volume of nature," (so luminous and clear ! so 
comprehensive and pure ! that whoever casts his 
eyes upon it, reads and learns all that man can 
know !) were so anxious to revenge an injury, that, 
where revenge was not in their power, they killed 
themselves, that the guilt of their suicide might rest 
upon their enemies, and in the process of metempsy- 
chosis, they might, in some fortunate evolution, have 
the luxury of reeking their malice and vengeance on 
the offender ! For a perfect transcript of all the licen- 
tiousness, ferocity, and abominations of the ancients — a 
reservoir of all the vileness in principle of preceding 
ages, we need but look into the posthumous works of 
Frederick II, King of Prussia. There will be seen his 
conspiracy with Voltaire, Diderot, and D'Alembert, for 
the avowed purpose of annihilating, or destroying from 
the earth, the christian religion! 

You cannot have a better specimen of the moral 
principle of infidelity than the encomiums infidels 
have bestowed upon the moral conduct of the ancients. 
Their praise of the morality of the ancient philosophers, 
is a moral demonstration that their's was that kind of 
morality which they admired and for which they con- 
tended. They never would, they never could, have 
I 2 



102 



STANDARDS Op INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



contended for such morality, if they had not admired it 
above all other kinds. 

Hume and Paine contended that by " infidel princi- 
ples men would live more consistently than by any- 
other system." This is unquestionably true. They 
have ever lived consistent with their principles! There 
is not an instance on record of their being inconsistent 
with them. Would to God that there was one single 
instance! It would shine, like a taper, amid surround- 
ing gloom. 

The ancient philosophers, says Voltaire, " opposed 
each other in their dogmas; but in morality they were 
all agreed;" then, extolling them to the skies, he says, 
"there has been no philosopher in all antiquity who 
has not been desirous of making men better." Here is 
his compliment of the purity of these moral men. But, 
Oh ? how different from the language of Paul, in his 
inimitable letter to the Romans. Again, says this same 
Voltaire, " They never persecuted a single philosopher 
for his opinions." This may be true. But they sacri- 
ficed the lives of millions of their purest citizens, for 
the testimony of Jesus Christ ! But the lives of millions 
of saints were not worth the notice of this polluted 
man ! 

Another writer of a kindred spirit, in commending 
the morality of the heathen, affirms that the " Chinese 
are so superior to Christians in relation to moral virtues 
that it may seem as necessary that they should send 
missionaries to instruct us in the use and practice of 
natural theology, as for us to send missionaries to teach 
them revealed religion." 

Most of the philosophers of infidelity contend, like 
Lord Bolingbroke, that " the light of nature, or the 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



103 



religion of nature, is all that men want; and, like Paine, 
affirm, that men would live more consistent without 
revealed religion, even as Hobbes admits, " though it 
were true." 

Now, what w r as this morality of the heathen, which 
they contend is incomparably more elevated and pure 
than the religion of Jesus Christ? Look, I ask you, 
upon this subject, and you will then see infidelity in 
bold relief. We will now show you what kind of mo- 
rality it is for which infidels contend. 

The chief oracles among these philosophers they 
eulogize, appointed human sacrifices — as that of Delphi, 
of Dodona, and of Jupiter Saotes. Lying was univer- 
sally commended, when it proffered any advantage. 
Menander says, " a lie is better than a hurtful truth." 
Proclus affirms, that " good is better than truth." Da- 
rius, in Herodotus; says, "When telling a lie will be 
profitable, let it be told." Plato says, " He may lie, 
who knows how to do it." But I will not extend these 
quotations as I might, to an indefinite length. 

We have already remarked, in a former lecture, 
that revenge was by them considered as a virtue, and 
pride and self-love the most noble principles in man. 
Suicide was a mark of a strong and heroic mind. Theft 
was permitted both in Egypt and in Sparta. Plato and 
Lycurgus taught the murder of weak infants; and Aris- 
totle, abortion; while Plutarch and Seneca justified the 
practice. Solon himself allowed of sodomy ; while 
thousands committed whoredom out of pure devotion. 
Socrates, Plato, Seneca,, and Julian, commended profane 
swearing; while Aristippus contended that adultery and 
licentiousness were lawful. Cicero, Seneca, Demos- 
thenes, Cato, Brutus, and Cassius, justified self-murder, 



104 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



Says Aristippus, " A wise man may publicly, without 
shame or scandal, keep company with common harlots, 
if his inclinations lead him- May not a beautiful wo- 
man be made use of, [says he,] because she is fair; or 
a youth, because he is lovely? Certainly they may." 
There were common baths, in which men and women 
bathed together. And young men and maidens were 
ordered to appear naked together in the public exercis- 
es, and to dance together, naked, at the sacrifices and 
solemn festivals. Husbands were allowed, or rather 
required, to " lend their wives to handsome young 
men." * * * * 

The religious rites and ceremonies performed in honor 
of Venus, in Ciprus, and at Aphac, in Mount Labrinus, 
consisted in lewdness of the grossest kinds — the young 
people of both sexes crowded together in these sinks of 
pollution, and filled the groves and temples with their 
shameless prostitutions. The Babylonian women were 
obliged to prostitute themselves at least once in their 
lives, at the temple of Venus or Mylitta, to the first man 
that asked them ; and the price of this iniquity was 
always sacred. 

But I will not crimson the cheek of modesty by a 
longer catalogue of these debasing practices, the darkest 
shades of which have not yet been exhibited; neither 
dare we do it in an assembly like this, were we ever so 
disposed on other occasions. This was the morality so 
muGh admired by infidel writers, and which they think 
is the religion of nature, so superior to the religion of 
Jesus Christ. A modern infidel says, "the religion of 
Socrates exceeded any thing in the Bible, for he was 
free from vice." A Ion chat bon rat! 

Now we will show you that many of these principles 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 105 

are advocated, and found eveiy where among the 
writings of infidels. But the congregation will please 
bear in mind that the proposition before us is, that infi- 
delity is subversive of all morals and good order in 
society. We think this was demonstrated in the last 
lecture; but it is our object to show it more clearly in 
the writings of infidels, as well as in their lives. 

Says Virgil, though himself a heathen, yet he seemed 
with all his mythology incomparably to exceed, in moral 
virtue and principles, our modern infidels — 

"Facihs decensus Averni, 

Noctes atque dies patet atri jarmna Ditis. 

Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad aurns, 

Hoc opus, hie labor est." 

The gates of hell are open night and day : 
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way. 
But to return and view the cheerful skies— 
In this the task and mighty labor lies. 

This has universally been the course of infidels. They 
have followed their own unsanctified passions, until God 
has given them up, commanding his Spirit to strive no 
more with them. Some few, by early repentance, have 
avoided this bitter end, while the great majority have 
gone on to ruin. 

The principles of men are the index to their conduct* 
and their conduct a demonstration of their principles. 
It is a moral axiom, that our principles govern us. If, 
then, our principles be low and debased, so must our 
conduct inevitably be ; "for men do not gather grapes 
of thorns, or figs of thistles " 

Says the celebrated Hume, "While the Deity is rep- 
resented as infinitely superior to mankind, this belief, 
though altogether just, is apt, when joined with super- 
stitious terrors, to sink the human mind into the lowes 



100 STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 

submission and abasement; and to represent the monk- 
ish virtues of mortification, penance, humility and passive 
suffering, as the only qualities which are acceptable to 
him. But where the gods are conceived to be but little 
superior to mankind, and to have been, many of them, 
advanced from that inferior rank, we are more at our 
ease in our addresses to them, and may even without 
profaneness aspire to a rival-ship and emulation of them." 
No one can possibly mistake Mr. Hume here. He 
wishes to have such gods as filled the pantheons of 
Greece and Rome, then could he be at his "ease in 
approaching them, " and under their licentious principles 
could gratify his own. 

Volney affirms, in his Law of Nature, that 44 there 
is no merit or crime in intention/' This is a perfect key 
to the moral feelings of his corrupt heart. Bolingbroke 
and Volney alike, agree that self-love is the Alpha and 
Omega of all morality. But let this principle once rule 
in the human breast, and the reign of old 44 Erebus" 
Would at once begin. 

Look at the standard of morality adopted by Mr. 
Hobbes. He contends, that 44 the laws of the state are 
to be the rule or measure of virtue; that civil law is the 
sole foundation of right and wrong; and that religion 
only becomes obligatory by the power or authority of 
the civil magistrate !" This was precisely the sentiment 
of Lord Bolingbroke. Need I remark on this, and 
show you how heartlessly fallacious is this standard of 
virtue and morality ? No — one moment's reflection 
will show you its hypocritical and corrupting tendency, 
alike withering to every virtuous principle in the heart, 
and erasive of all public morals. 

Look again, if you please, at the standard of morality 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 10T 

and virtue adopted by Rousseau. Says he, "I have 
only to consult myself, concerning what I ought to do, 
and what I feel to be right, is right; and what I feel to 
be wrong, is wrong. All the morality of our actions lies 
in the judgment we ourselves form of them !" 

Can any one look at these infidel standards of moral- 
ity, and not feel the purple current recede from his cheek 
and crowd upon his heart % Can he not see the eternal 
corrosions of every thing morally pure and noble, by 
these eruptive principles 1 

Human laws take no cognizance of the heart — fix no 
stigma or punishment upon the blackest, foulest plot that 
human depravity ever drew, which fails in execution — 
they only do, and only can, extend to open deeds, and 
the violent commission of crime. If the law shall prove 
incompetent, through any defect in itself, or of the 
prosecution, in any given case to punish the marauder, 
though he dip his hand in his brother's blood — yet, by 
this standard of infidel morality, he is, he must be pure! 

Says Lord Shaftesbury, " Virtue is a sense of beauty, 
of harmony, of order, and proportion — an affection 
towards the whole of our kind or species." Says Lord 
Bolingbroke, " It is only lowering ourselves." Says 
Mr. Hume, 4 4 It is whatever is useful in society, health, 
cleanliness, facility of expression, broad shoulders, and 
taper legs." These are to be reckoned among his class 
of virtues; yet, says this moral and sublime writer, 
" Nothing carries a man through the world, like a true, 
genuiue, natural impudence." 

Who can look upon this cloud of infidel worthies, and 
not say, as was said of others, 44 God is notin all their 
thoughts" — for 44 the fool hath said in his heart there b 
no God." It is a truth, then, that infidels have no sta&- 



108 STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 

dard of morality and virtue, but their own erratic incli- 
nations and feelings. Whatever they u feel to be right, 
is right," with them. Where, I ask again, under such 
principles, would be the safety of our lives, our prop- 
erty, or our sacred honor ? Let such a lawless horde 
of moral pests once gain the ascendency, and where 
would be the security of the chastity and virtue of the 
loved ones of our hearts ? Alas ! they would be sacri- 
ficed at the unhallowed shrine of every grovelling 
sensualist, and offered upon the altar of his beastly 
lust. May Heaven forbid, that this bloody night — this 
moonless, starless moral night, should ever come down 
in all its deep and chilling horror, like a ponderous 
incubus, upon this wretched world ! 

Mr. Hobbes contends, that " religion has no power, 
only from the civil authority; and yet that all religion is 
ridiculous." Strange consistency ! Mr. Blount some- 
times contended that the soul was to live beyond this 
world; and at other times, that it " was material and 
mortal;" showing that they had no fixed or settled prin- 
ciples upon this interesting and all-important subject. 
The Earl of Shaftesbury said, that " the hope of future 
rewards could not consist with virtue ;" and yet at times, 
he strongly contends for them. He represents our 
Saviour as being influenced, and directed by deep de- 
signs of ambition, and cherishing a savage zeal, and a 
persecuting spirit !" What a blessed harmony exists 
between these priests of natural religion ! 

Mr. Collins, another celebrated infidel writer, contends 
that " man is a mere machine, and that his soul is ma- 
terial and mortal. Woolston, under the garb of reli- 
gion, with the vilest hypocrisy, attempted to destroy the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. Contemporary with Collins, 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



109 



and of congenial spirits, were Drs. TindaKand Morgan. 
Both attempted by every malicious episode they could 
invent, to destroy the authenticity of the blessed Bible, 
and to substitute natural religion. Says Dr. Tindal, 
"Natural religion is so plain to all, even the most igno- 
rant men, that God could make it no plainer !" It re- 
quires no deep research to see the tendency of such 
men's morals — laboring with all their power to bring 
back again the pagan mysteries, and heathen debauch- 
eries, and licentious banquets, that they may enjoy the 
full revelry of such " intellectual" masquerades. 

Chubb affirmed, " that men would not be judged for 
their impiety or ingratitude to God, nor for their injus- 
tice or unkindness to each other, but only for their vol- 
untary injuries to the public; and even this would be 
unnecessary and useless." Here you see, that, as with 
the magician's wand, every barrier to vice and immo- 
rality is swept away, as well as every motive to a virtu* 
ous life. 

I ask you to picture to yourselves the state of society 
under the reign of such principles as these. The earth 
would at once feel the rapid and terrific shocks of this 
moral volcano, while the heated passions of infuriated 
men would, like burning lava, roll wide-wasting desola- 
tion over the fairest portions of earth, turning it, like 
the stricken cities of the plain, into a stygian pool, ex- 
hibiting the awful phenomenon of a tremendous smoking 
furnace ! 

Bolingbroke declares, that God does not concern him- 
self with the affairs of men at all, and if he does, he 
only regards collective bodies, not individuals; and that 
he only punishes men through the magistrate, and de- 
clares at the same time that there is no natural con- 
K 



110 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



science in man. We have already told you some of the 
principles of Hume — denying future existence. He 
affirms, that it would be unreasonable to believe God to 
be wise and good; that what we believe to be a perfection 
of God, may be a defect: that is, his holiness, justice, 
wisdom, goodness and mercy, may all be defects; and 
consequently, that malice, revenge, falsehood, treach- 
ery, and injustice, may be perfections in his character!! 
" O, shame ! where is thy blush V 9 

It is a known fact, that the most strenuous exertions 
are made in infidel clubs, to obliterate or explode the 
idea of moral obligation. Such were the exertions 
made in every infidel association in France, previous to 
the mighty and bloody revolution which drenched her 
land with the blood of her noblest citizens. No man 
can know it to be a ruling sentiment among modern in- 
fidels, that moral obligation does not exist, and not feel 
the deepest alarm for the honor and the safety of his 
country, and the perpetuity of all her noble institutions. 

Says Paine : ' i Those men whom Jewish and Chris- 
tian idolaters have abusively called heathen, had much 
better and clearer ideas of justice and morality, than 
are to be found in the Old Testament or in the New." 
In his remarks upon the expression of our Saviour, "If 
a man smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the 
other also," — -he says, " This is assassinating the dig- 
nity of forbearance, and sinking man into a spaniel!" 

You see what were the sentiments of the man held up 
for your imitation, and whom our modern infidels " de- 
light to honor." Contending for the morality of the 
heathen, as superior to that of the gospel — and with 
savage ferocity, disdaining forbearance; despising virtue; 
rejecting moral obligation; " disgorging a living leprosy 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. Ill 

upon the world and compelling men to crawl along 
the murky dens of lawless, creedless libertines, and 
finally, unwept and unpitied, to perish in the grave of 
moral putrefaction. If a man will curse and abuse his 
God, and attempt to cheat Him, he will most assuredly 
do so to his fellow men. I would as soon trust a fiend 
in perdition, as such a man, on moral principles. 

Can it now be to you a matter of doubt, that infidelity 
is subversive of all morals and good order in society, 
and destructive of every thing virtuous in the universe? 
Have you heard the few quotations already made from 
the champions of infidelity, and still can you say, their 
principles of morals are pure and just; and that they 
will yet, by their morality and virtue, work the entire 
renovation of earth ? No: I will not insult your under- 
standings, or shock the sensibilities of your nature, by 
even submitting such a query. But, be assured, that in 
this day, when bold blasphemy is openly avowed, and 
our holy religion not only shamelessly assailed, but 
trampled under unhallowed feet; when the subtle venom 
of moral poison has become an article of commerce 
with the infidel panderer; when man's perdition can be 
purchased at his gilded stall; when the deep-fixed flukes 
of our anchor of hope are being drawn up by anfidel 
hands ; that our blessed ship may leave her peaceful 
moorings, and drift out in a moonless, starless night, 
without a rudder or chart, compass or helm, into M a 
shoreless ocean of impiety and blood, " — think not, I 
say, young gentlemen, that in such a time as this, you 
have nothing to fear. Alas ! you have much. The 
very atmosphere you breathe is contaminated by those 
moving, walking masses of moral corruption, that en- 
compass both sea and land "to make one proselyte;" 



112 STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 

stamping him with the image of hell; and in their unholy 
crusade, "seeking whom they may devour." It is only 
by knowing your danger, and the nature of that mithri- 
date which will neutralize the acrid and corroding power 
of this deadly poison, that you can hope for safety. 

Think not, young gentlemen, you are safe, because 
this moral pestilence has not at once fastened upon the 
seat of life. The chill of death commences its be- 
numbing influence upon the extremities of the body, 
yet creeps with slow but steady pace up to the vital 
organs, and breaks the 44 golden bowl" at the fountain 
head, and looses there the 44 silver cord." You first 
become tainted with the infectious venom, remaining at 
the same time unconscious what you do, till by still 
deeper and more intoxicating draughts, you find your- 
selves deprived of reason, and like clouds carried about in 
every direction by tempests — with an awful conscious- 
ness, and a most fearful foreboding, that 44 unto you is 
reserved the blackness of darkness forever !" 

Infidelity is like the ivy that twines around the oak — 
it embraces the sturdy limbs of this stately tree, by its 
creeping tendrils; and being lifted up from the dirt into 
sunshine and notice, it seems to express a gratitude and 
affection, yet, in that very expression of kindness, it 
draws away the life of the oak, and kills by embracing. 
Or it is like the Maldavian vampire bat, which, while 
men sleep, fastens upon the large veins of the neck; 
and, by the gentle friction of its soft and velvet-like 
wings, producing an agreeable and soothing sensation, 
makes its victim sleep, unconscious of his awful situation, 
until he bleeds to death. Such is the nature and ten- 
dency of this infidelity which boasts of moral purity 
and excellency infinitely above the " glorious gospel of 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE* 



113 



the blessed God. ?? Never has a single champion of 
infidelity, like an honest man, and in a cool, collected 
and logical manner, met and attempted a refutation of 
the evidences of the Christian religion. A cardinal 
point of the Christian religion has never been shaken, 
or one of these sacred landmarks ever moved, by the 
. malice or ingenuity of a single infidel, or of all united, 
But, on 

"Seeing one in mail, 

Armed to point, sought back to turn again; 

For light they hated, as the deadly bale, 

Aye, wont in desert darkness to remain; 

\V"here plain, none might see them, nor they see any plain !" 

Infidelity is no longer confined to inaccessble libraries, 
or hidden from the common people amid the subtle phi- 
losophy of scientific but sceptical adepts- — it is no longer 
gilded over by the tinsel of Hume's and Bolingbroke's 
sophistry; but it comes down to the lowest ranks of soci- 
ety — itinerating, in its exterminating crusade, through 
our country and cities, our villages and market-places, 
our workshops and our schools— wearing the most filthy 
and disgusting garb of which we can have any possible 
conception; and sustained in the rear by a formidable 
array of blasphemous ribaldry, obscene cants, profane 
maxims, and vulgar wit— finding in the breast of every 
scurrilous sciolist a safe retreat. Disrobed of its soph- 
istry — diverted of those refinements which taste, and 
ingenuity, and eloquence had thrown around it, in the 
days of its more subtle advocates — it comes down to us 
in all the abominations of its original compound, with- 
out one single redeeming quality or feature. 

Permit us to say again, that by the seductive influence 
of this pernicious principle, you are in danger. N€ 
K 2 



114 STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 

individual becomes a drunkard at once : Pen et peu — 
" little by little." It is by the serpent's stealth that he 
passes from an occasional glass, to a perfect sot. No 
man at once plunges into the grossest vice, or the com- 
mission of the foulest crimes ; he is first an infant in 
ihiquity, but soon becomes a giant in transgression. 
Visit the incarcerated victims of our gloomy prisons, or 
listen to the heart-chilling tales of cruelty and blood, 
from the condemned criminal, as he prepares to launch 
into an undone eternity ; and you will find, perhaps, 
without a single exception, that they first neglected reli- 
gion, then doubted its truth, and then embraced infidelity, 
which nerved and prepared them for the commission of 
any deed, however sanguinary or venal it might chance 
to be. 

Infidelity is the great moral maelstrom, in which 
have been shipwrecked the honor, the prospects, and 
brightest hopes of unnumbered thousands. Its circum- 
ference is so large, and its first movement so slow, 
that you will sail round the mighty sweep and scarcely 
feel its motion. But as your circles grow smaller, your 
velocity increases; till, by the rapidity of your whirl, 
you awake from your slumber — only to see the hope- 
lessness of your condition, and to give one deep and 
awful groan as you go down the fearful vortex. 

Think not that I am following a luxuriant fancy, or 
exaggerating the real danger, or attempting unnecessa- 
rily to alarm your fears. Very far from me be such 
an unworthy motive. But when the servant of God sees 
the " sword coming," and warns not the men in danger, 
though they perish in their sins, yet their blood will bo 
found upon the skirts of his coat And when he returns 
not to " discern between the righteous and the wicked, 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUS. 115 

between him that serveth God and him that serveth him 
not," he sacrifices to the fear of man, or upon the altar 
of popularity, the souls committed to his solemn charge. 

How low and debasing have been the principles of 
infidels, thus far examined ! But we have a still darker 
picture yet to behold, in the history and lives of these 
great philosophers, during the course of another lecture 
— a picture, at the sight of which the cheeh of the good 
man will turn pale, and the knees of terror quake. 

I cannot give a full disclosure of the abominations 
of infidelity; for if I did . 

" I should a tale unfold, whose lightest word 
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy warm blood; 
Make thy two eyes, like stars, to start from their spheres ? 
Thy knotted and combined bcks to part, 
And each particular hair to stand on end, 
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine. 
But this eternal blazon must not be 
To ears of flesh and blood/' 

I dare not lead you into the kennels of vice, and show 
you the shamelessness of some of the deeds in which 
infidels glory. I will show you enough, however, to 
convince you that all you have ever heard of infidelity 
is true, and that the one half has not been disclosed. I will 
point you to some of their dying beds, that you may 
see how, in anguish unutterably great, they closed up 
the time of their allotted probation, to appear in the 
presence the great God they despised — but now their 
inexorable Judge. Yet, as we have already said, the 
deepest shades must remain in darkness, until brought 
out to the light and abhorrence of open day in the fear- 
ful judgment. 

Hobbes and Shaftesbury, with a host of other infidel 
writers, have contended that there is no natural or 



110 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



moral right, except that which dwells in the great 
leviathan — the civil magistrate and power. Hence. 
Hobbes unblushingly affirms, " that it is lawful to do 
and to get whatever we can with safety;" while endless 
multitudes of his corrupted coadjutors have taught in 
every corner of the streets, that pollution of .every 
kind and of every form, is lawful and desirable; and 
that "animal enjoyment is the only real good." 

The infidels of the French school have thrown off 
even the restraint that these English infidels seemed to 
feel. But all alike proclaim, "that our bodies are 
begun by chance, continued without design, and perish 
without hope." O, what a brilliant constellation of wor- 
thies would such men form ! How pure and unsullied 
must, be their reputations ! 

Who would dare to let his fancy picture the state of 
society under the control of such principles? Inflamed 
and brutal passions, assuming the province of execu- 
tioner and judge, would heap in undistinguished ruin all 
that is innocent, and lovely, and pure. The bloody 
histories of Caligula, Nero, and Heliogabulus, or the 
more deeply tinged and darkly stained histories of 
Danton, Murat, and Robespierre, show what would be 
our doom and the history of our own beloved country, 
under the dominion of infidel philosophy. 

Cursed with such rulers, and drinking in the same 
poisoned streams, each of us would exhibit in our own 
conduct the exact counterpart of that of our rulers; 
while by appetite we should be changed into a herd of 
swine, and by passion, into raving tigers. Whatever 
we disliked, whether true or false, good or bad, in 
itself, would of course be hunted with relentless cruelty 
until it was destroyed. Red hot plates of iron, and 



Standards of infidel virtue. lit 

pincers would be made to tear the quivering flesh; 
while caldrons of boiling oil, and burning brazen bulls, 
and seats of fire and flame, torture and butchery, would 
be but the sports and daily employments of men. Such 
have been the scenes where infidelity has triumphed* 

Children, by every polluted connection, would be 
thrown into ditches and ponds, or dashed against the 
wall, to save their wretched parents — not from dis- 
grace, for this would not be known — but from the 
trouble of their maintenance ; while those who should 
escape this more to be desired fate, would grow up without 
a parent, without a home, or without a friend. Then 
this world wou]d be an extensive theater of pollution 
and blood, and at once be turned into one vast den; 
one tremendous charnel house ! 

That this is, from its very nature, the tendency of 
infidelity, will you, can you doubt? 

When men publicly teach that man has no con- 
science; is under no moral obligation; that there is no 
other right, natural or moral, than power; that there is 
no crime in intention; that our feelings are our stand- 
ard of right and wrong; that revenge is a virtue; that 
adultery and lewdness are necessary; that it is right to 
get what we can; that religion is a farce, and the Bible 
priestcraft; that humility and devotion are monkish 
and debase the mind; that the soul is material, and dies 
with the body; that the body is begun by chance, lives 
by chance, dies by chance, and rots by chance; that 
all virtue and good in the universe exists alone in animal 
gratification, and that we are born like monkies, live 
like swine, and die like fools. Such is the splendid 
catalogue of infidel virtues ! It would, it must, in it* 



113 



STANDARDS OF INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



triumph, accomplish all that we have said in the des- 
truction of morals and the subversion of good order. 

To show you still further, in another lecture, the 
pure morality of these moral renovaters of the earth, 
we shall disclose more of their sentiments, and show 
you their abominable lewdness, hypocrisy, and pro- 
fanity. 

Such have been the mental hallucinations of some 
of these philosophers that they have doubted their own 
existence. Hobbes reasoned himself into a belief that 
there was no moral difference between actions, and 
that there was no such distinction as right and wrong ! 
Hume at last thought there was nothing in the world 
but ideas and impressions. Berkley thought that matter 
did not exist. Descartes doubted even his own exist- 
ence; and the celebrated Pyrrho thought that if he did 
exist it was in such a particular form that nothing could 
hurt him. Such are the wild speculations of sceptics. 
When we once leave divine revelation, we are at the 
mercy of every wave and of every wind. O, how 
unlike that man are these infidels, who, with the book 
of God in his hand, " takes his excursive flight over 
those golden tracts, where lie scattered the suns and 
systems of astronomy;" where God has poured all the 
exhaustlessness of creative wealth, and all the wonders 
of his omnipotent power. It is in these untraveled, un- 
measured fields of cloudless transparency, that he finds 
himself overpowered with wonder, by the awfulness 
and glory of the eternal God ; and wherever he turns 
his delighted eye, he sees, as if blazing in the escutch- 
eonry of heaven, the clearest attributes of his high divi- 
nity. Lost, as he feels himself to be, amid encircling 
glories and unutterable splendors, he listens only to the 



STANDARDS OP INFIDEL VIRTUE. 



119 



ascending song of innumerable worshippers, as it rises 
in sublime and holy grandeur, to him who hath loved 
them and washed them in his own blood; and while his 
delighted ear drinks in the melody of those swelling 
notes, rolled on golden harps, and which to him come 
down "loud as from numbers without number, and 
sweet as from blessed voices uttering joy," he says, let 
the groveling infidel reap his carnal joys, but give me 
heaven and I ask no more, 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked; 
between hiin that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.— Jul, 3c 18. 

" Beholdest thou, yonder, on the crystal sea, 
Beneath tbe throne of God, an image bright! 
'Tis Truth, immutable, eternal Truth, 
In figure emblematical expressed. 
Before it Virtue stands, and smiling sees, 
Well pleased, in her reflected soul no spot. 
The sons of heaven, archangel, seraph, saint, 
There daily read their own celestial worth: 
And as they read, take place among the just . 
Or high, or low, as each his value seems." 

It is one blessed and one redeeming trait in human 
nature, that the female sex have not stooped to the 
maddening debaseness of corrupt infidelity. But when- 
ever anyhave been so unfortunate as to comedown to the 
vulgar level of scepticism, they were at once " disrobed 
of their dignity and virtue, and were viewed as a disgrace 
to their sex, and as monsters in society." 

Amid all the vulgar and bitter throng that persecuted 
unto death the Son of God, there was found no woman. 
Crowds of women, it is true, followed him to his cross, 
but only to weep in unavailing lamentation his bitter 
anguish and cruel end. And even the proud and haughty 
wife of Pilate, warned her too credulous husband against 



TENDENCY OP INFIDELITY. 



121 



the malice and cruelty of the Jews, and of the innocence 
of Jesus Christ No female voice was heard in his 
condemnation. 

"Not she, with traitorous kiss, her Savior stung; 
Not she denied him with unholy tongue; 
She, while apostles shrank, could dangers brave; 
Last at the cross and earliest at the grave." 

The very idea of a female infidel, would make us 
shudder, and fill the mind with indescribable dread — 
would render any woman, in other respects however 
lovely, the object of our most implacable disgust. So 
low, so gross, so unworthy human nature, do we view 
infidelity, that of necessity, and as if by universal instinct, 
we associate it with all that is vile and disreputable in 
depravity. What would be thought of that mother, who 
should sit down amid the little group of her own dear 
children, and coldly teach them that there is no God, no 
hereafter, no moral obligation; that the Bible was only 
priestcraft; and that all religion was but a superstitious 
farce. Even infidelity itself would look upon such a 
sight with indignation and horror, i will not follow out 
this branch of infidelity ; for here it has been almost 
universally rejected, and in woman's heart has seldom 
found a lodgment. But— 

" Who writes the history 

Of men, and writes it true, must write them bad; 
Who reads, must read of violence and blood." 

You will bear in mind that the last lecture was designed 
to strengthen the proposition laid down in the preceding 
one, namely, that infidelity is subversive of all morality 
and good order in society. We first showed you, from 
the very genius and nature of infidelity, that this was 
its legitimate tendency and result. In that lecture we 
L 



122 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



gave you the standard of morality adopted by infidels, 
and showed you that, from their very standard of virtue, 
it was subversive of all morality and good order in 
society. Bearing in mind, as I trust you do, the fact, 
that some made feeling their standard, others popular 
sentiment; some contended that in man there was no 
conscience, no moral obligation ; some making no dis- 
tinction between moral actions, or vice or virtue; while 
all contended that animal gratification was the only real 
good, and that the morality and virtue of the heathen, 
as learned from what they called the volume of nature, 
was pre-eminently more pure and refined than the religion 
of Jesus Christ. We attempted to show you that these 
flagitious principles, advocated by infidels, went most 
directly to accomplish the entire destruction of all moral 
principle and moral obligation. We shall, this* evening, 
show you more of their principles and practices in 
confirmation of this truth. 

Convinced as these infidels were, that all the morality 
of the heathen and philosophers of Greece and Rome, 
only tended to sink them down deeper and still deeper 
in the most heartless depravity, yet they constantly ex- 
tolled it to the skies. Socrates, though confessedly one 
of the purest and wisest of the philosophers, yet, never 
shook the idolatry of Athens, nor turned an individual 
from it. Neither did he produce the slightest revolution 
in the manners of his countrymen. The same might 
be said of most of their ablest statesmen. Aside from 
all the money spent, and time worse than thrown away, 
Lipsius assures us that the gladiatorial shows sometimes 
cost Europe twenty or thirty thousand lives in a month; 
and that not only the men, but even the women of all 
ranks were passionately fond of these shows ! It can 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



123 



scarcely be credited, that men in this day of pure and 
enlightened principle, should advocate, much less reduce 
to practice, all the fawning flatulency of this reckless 
libertinism, alike ruinous of all that is noble and dignified 
in man, sublime in science, or pure in morals. 

We need not here remark again, that in exact pro- 
portion as infidelity has gained influence and control, 
has its handmaid ferocity, or thirst for blood gained 
with it. No sooner had the infidel Epicurus secured for 
himself and his principles an influence at Rome, than 
prescription followed prescription, and such scenes of 
anarchy, confiscation and blood, as were unknown even 
in the annals of of the lawless hordes of northern bar- 
barians, from which tremendous shock Rome never 
recovered. 

Hand in hand with the dissemination of the infidel 
sentiments of Voltaire, D'Alembert, Diderot, and Rous- 
seau, went the bloody revolutions which turned France 
into one great slaughter-house, and made it a crimsoned 
monument to the end of time. 

The Sadducees, who were Jewish infidels, and of a 
kindred spirit with those of more modern times, were 
distinguished above all others for their savage ferocity, 
their cruelty and blood; and Josephus says, u there 
never was a race of men, from the beginning of the 
world, so abandoned in wickedness." They manifested 
the same hatred to divine revelation, to Jesus Christ and 
his apostles, that modern infidels do. 

Listen to a description of this earth by the wretched 
Voltaire, and you will see what views these admirers of 
the works of nature entertained of the beauty, harmony 
and perfection of all things, as seen and understood by 
that book which they affirm is alone able to guide man 



124 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



aright ! Says this champion of infidelity, " Who can 
without horror consider this whole world as the empire 
of destruction ? It abounds with wonders ; it also 
abounds with victims. It is a vast field of carnage and 
contagion. Every species is pursued without pity, and 
torn to pieces, through the earth the air and the water. 
In man there is more wretchedness than in all the other 
animals put together. He loves life, and yet he knows 
he must die. If he enjoys a transient good, he suffers 
various evils, and is at last devoured by worms. This 
knowledge is his fatal prerogative; other animals have 
it not. He spends the transient moments of his exist- 
ence in diffusing the miseries which he suffers; cutting 
the throats of his fellow creatures for pay; in cheating, 
and being cheated ; robbing, and being robbed ; in 
serving that he might command, and in repenting of all 
he does. The bulk of mankind are nothing more than 
a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate, 
and the globe contains rather carcases than men. I 
tremble at the review of this dreadful picture, to find 
that it contains a complaint against Providence itself, 
and I wish I had never been born!" This is the view 
infidels have of this world, with all its teeming popula- 
tion. Considering men as thieves and robbers, outcasts 
and vagabonds, the spontaneous production of chance, 
they are deeply imbued with a spirit of cruelty and 
blood, and rejoice only while following out their unre- 
lenting ferocity. O, let it then be inscribed upon the 
portals of every church of Jesus Christ, and upon the 
pillars of every republican temple, "Proculf Oproculf 
este profani." 

Infidels who have been loud and clamorous in their 
denunciations against the priesthood — charging them 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



125 



with hypocrisy in professing to feel more than they 
really did for the souls of men — have exhibited in their 
own lives the very principles they so unhesitatingly 
condemned in others. There is no class of men under 
the broad eye of heaven, so universally distinguished 
for the vilest hypocrisy, as infidels. 

Lord Herbert, in his various works, professed to 
admire and venerate the gospel, while by lying hypoc- 
risy of the most debasing kind, he attempted by this 
false friendship to stab religion to the heart. Hobbes, 
Shaftesbury, Woolston, Tindal, Chubb, and Lord Bo- 
lingbroke did the same thing. Such vile hypocrisy, 
such gross blasphemy, such heaven-daring professions, 
such reckless falsehoods, as these infidels constantly 
employed to destroy religion, fills the mind with perfect 
astonishment, constraining all to say, surely their "judg- 
ment now for a long time lingereth not, and their 
damnation slumbereth not." 

All hypocrisy is abominable ; but when it is cool, 
studied, deliberate, and based upon the most glaring 
falsehood, it is the climax of wickedness — the consum 
mation of finished depravity. Now, young gentlemen, 
we most unhesitatingly affirm that this is infidelity, and 
these its fruits, as exemplified, again and again, in the 
lives of its advocates. 

Voltaire requested D'Alembert to tell for him a direct 
and palpable falsehood, by denying that he was the 
author of the execrable Philosophical Dictionary. 
D'Alembert, in his answer, says, " I have told the lie!" 
Look at his moral character again, as expressed in this 
circumstance. "Monsieur Abbe," says he, "I must 
be read, no matter whether I am believed or not." Take 
L2 



TENDENCT OP INFIDELITY* 



another instance in the life of this infidel giant. At the 
very moment when he was plotting the entire destruction 
of the Christian religion, in introducing his most awful 
and blasphemous watchword, "ecrasez, Vinfame," that 
is, " crush the wretch !" meaning Jesus Christ — at that 
moment he solemnly professed to believe the Roman 
Catholic religion, and then with bended knee and up- 
lifted eye, he adored the cross of Christ, and received 
the communion ! He was also, at the same time, "a 
shameless adulterer, who, with his disgusting and aban- 
doned mistress, violated the confidence of his visiters, 
by opening their private letters ; his total want of all 
principle, moral or religious ; his impudent audacity ; 
his filthy sensuality, his persecuting envy, his base 
adulation, his unwearied treachery, his tyranny, his 
cruelty, his profligacy, and his hypocrisy, will render 
him forever the scorn, as his unbounded powers will the 
wonder of the world." 

Look again, if you please, for a specimen of the 
hypocrisy of infidels, to the dishonest, the profligate, 
and the perjured Rousseau. He first abjured the Prot- 
estant religion, and professed the Catholic, to suit the 
times ; then, when that did not suit his convenience, he 
a3 solemnly abjured the Catholic ; changing to suit the 
prevalence of either party, without believing either or 
any religion, and then died in the very act of uttering 
a most notorious falsehood to his Creator. 

Collins, though he disdained religion, and treated 
Christianity with contempt, yet, to qualify himself to 
hold civil office, he sat down and in the most solemn 
manner partook of the Lord's Supper! Lord Shaftes- 
bury did the same thing; and, if you can believe it, 
hundreds of infidels do so now. 



TENDENCY OP INFIDELITY. 



127 



So depraved and hardened was Hobbes, that ho did 
not hesitate to declare to Lord Clarendon, that he wrote 
his disgraceful Leviathan, to serve the cause of Charles 
the First ; but failing in this, he then turned it to the 
promotion of Cromwell, and pretended to that usurper 
that he was from the first his best friend ! 

Morgan professed himself a Christian, and in that 
garb he drew his deadliest dagger, and most poisoned 
arrow against Christianity, and with unblushing audacity, 
by incessant falsification of scripture, attempted to bring 
it into disrepute. How much like the infamous Herod, 
who inquired of the wise men where Christ was born, 
that he might go and worship him, with a deep design 
to murder this innocent babe ! 

Tindal was first a Protestant, then he turned Catholic, 
and then turned Protestant again, just as his interest 
eeemed to demand — disbelieving at the same time all 
religion, and was notorious for want of all principle, 
and for the most infamous vice. 

But I will not pollute my paper, nor harrow up your 
minds, by a longer quotation from these modern infidels. 
Such, young gentlemen, is a mere specimen of their 
hypocrisy, which they lay to the account of the Christian 
ministry, and which they profess themselves so much 
to detest. Who could trust or believe what such men 
would say, priding themselves as they do, that 

"God ne'er smiles at good 5 
Nor frowns at evil deeds." 

And who does not see the exact fulfilment of that 
expression of holy writ, "Evil men and seducers wax 
worse and worse." This does not surprise us, for wa 
look for all kinds of poisonous and deadly fruit to grow 



128 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



upon such trees as these. Planted as they are in the 
soil of human depravity, and nurtured by the polluted 
streams of moral corruption, they cannot bear other 
than poisonous fruit, which is 4 4 nigh unto cursing.' 5 
Yet these very men will sometimes advocate morality 
and good order, and, with their accustomed hypocrisy, 
profess to detest vice. But it is a farce, a perfect farce 
— they 4 'love darkness rather than light;" and wallowing 
in the mire, rather than the ways of virtue, or the paths 
of righteousness and truth. 

But we have not yet quite done with those men who 
are held up for our imitation and veneration, as the noble 
few, who, despite the force of popularity, have thrown 
off the shackles of priestcraft ; maintained a noble 
detachment from the low and debasing principles of 
religious devotion and Christian humility; and finally 
stand forth to the world as the "only men who have 
studied to some wise purpose the volume of nature, and 
who alone in all the earth are worthy to be had in ever- 
lasting remembrance. 

Look, if you please, to their creed, drawn by a mas- 
terly hand, and one too who knew well what infidelity was. 
44 1 believe there is no God, but that matter is God, and 
God is matter, and that it is no matter whether there is 
any God or no. I believe the world was not made; that 
the world made itself, and that it had no beginning; that 
it will last forever, world without end. I believe that 
man is a beast ; that the soul is the body, and the body 
the soul, and that after death there is neither body or 
soul. I believe there is no religion ; that natural religion 
is the only religion, and that all religion is unnatural. 
I believe not in Moses; I believe in the first philosophy; 
I believe in Chubb, Collins, Toland, Tindal, Morgan, 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



120 



Mandeville, Hobbes, Shaftesbury ; I believe in Lord 
Bolingbroke, Hume, Voltaire, Diderot, Boulanger, Vol- 
ney, and Tom Paine. I believe not St. Paul; I believe 
not revelation ; I believe in tradition ; I believe in the 
Talmud ; I believe in the Koran; I believe not the Bible; 
I believe in Socrates ; I believe in Confucius; I believe 
in Sanchomiathon ; I believe in Mohammed ; I believe 
cot in Christ. Lastly, I believe in all unbelief!" 

Such is the creed of those worthy men, those great 
patterns of virtue and refinement! The barrenness 
and sterility of infidel mind will cease to be a wonder, 
when their principles are known. I mean the barren- 
ness of all virtue, but prolific of every gigantic vice. 
Notwithstanding all this, a modern infidel writer, with 
all their accustomed falsehood and hypocrisy, affirms : 
"Of these two books, (the Bible and the Koran,) the 
Koran has the most truths, and a more impressive moral 
code P In contempt for the blessed Bible, they seem 
to vie with each other in the invention of terms suffi- 
ciently expressive of their malice and hatred for that 
disturber of their peace. 

Said Voltaire, "I am wearied of hearing it repeated, 
that twelve men were sufficient to establish Christianity, 
and I wish to prove that it needs but one to destroy it !" 
Yet his efforts for its destruction, characterized by hellish 
ingenuity, and prosecuted with infernal zeal, only tended 
to purify it and render it more beautiful and lovely — 
while he died in despair, without accomplishing the least 
part of his demoniac purpose, and over, his very bones 
stands a church of Jesus Christ, where the gospel is 
preached every Sabbath day; and the same press which 
he used to print his infamous publications, is now used 
in printing the word of God. 



130 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



We will give you a few specimens of the moral purity, 
chastity, and refinement, of those men held up as your 
examples by infidels. 

Lord Herbert, confessedly one of their purest writers, 
apologizes for lewdness and sensuality, as resembling 
thirst in dropsy, or inactivity in a lethargy, and says, 
" Men are not hastily or on small ground to be con- 
demned who are led into sin by bodily constitution." 
Can any one doubt the object of Lord Herbert, in these 
reckless sentiments? Certainly not. Let him instill 
this seductive poison into every family circle, and he 
could accomplish his foul designs wherever, and when- 
ever, he pleased ! 

Lord Bolingbroke became so steeped in base sensu- 
ality, that, without feeling his cheek crimson with 
shame, he says, 6 ' the only consideration that can 
reconcile a man to confine himself by marriage to one 
woman, and a woman to one man, is this, that nothing 
hinders but that they may indulge their desires with 
others. 5 ' He contended that sensuality might be indul- 
ged; and that modesty is only vanity, and a wish to 
show ourselves superior to brutes; that man is only a 
superior animal, and that his chief end is to gratify his 
flesh; that polygamy is a part of the law or religion of 
nature, and that adultery is no violation of that law, 
and may be indulged when it can be with safety. Is 
not this a most splendid catalogue of infidel virtues ! 
O, how supremely worthy our imitation is such a man! 
how pure his morals ! and how transcendently above 
the gospel of Jesus Christ ! Would either of you sus- 
pect that he was pure, and free from the charge of vile 
adultery? Assuredly you would not. And yet, such 



TENDENCY OP INFIDELITY. 



131 



are the men our modern infidels admire, and hold up 
to the view of our young men as models of virtue! 

Hume hesitates not to say, that self-denial is a monk- 
ish virtue, and that adultery must be practiced, if we 
would enjoy all the advantages of life; that female 
infidelity, when known, is a small thing, and when 
unknown, nothing. 

These same writers, it is true, on some occasions 
talk of chastity; but only as conducive to health and 
reputation; but in the event that they violate all chastity, 
they pass it off under the pretence of indulging the dic- 
tates of nature ! 

Hume contended that if adultery was generally prac- 
ticed, it would in time cease to be scandalous; and if 
practiced secretly and frequently, it would by degrees 
come to be thought no crime at all. This is the index to 
his morality of conduct. If such were his sentiments, it 
is just to conclude that such, also, were his practices. 

Such, young gentlemen, would infidels have you to 
be — the patterns of vice, the irlvaders of the sacred 
domestic circle, the corrupters of innocence, the betray- 
ers of virtue, and the panders of death. Let me ask you 
here, if such sentiments would not disqualify you to 
meet the claims society has upon you? and, professing 
such sentiments, if you would not feel abashed and 
confounded in the presence of female virtue? May 
Heaven preserve you from this incarnate fiend, who 
goes about seeking whom he may devour, and multi- 
plying his victims for a more sanguinary desolation. 

I will not, in this assembly, give you specimens of 
the licentiousness and morals, of Rochester, Warton, or 
Woolston. They are too deeply tinged. 

Blount solicited his sister-in-law to marry him, and 



133 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



when she refused his request, he shot himself. Vol- 
taire was a shameless adulterer. Having seduced a 
talented woman from a beloved husband, he gave himself 
up to the most filthy sensuality, and abominable lewdness 
of which we can well conceive. Helvetius advocated 
the most unlimited gratification of the sensual appetites, 
and contended that it is not " agreeable to policy to re- 
gard gallantry (that is, unlawful intercourse with mar- 
ried women) as a vice, in a moral sense;" and that "if 
men will call it a vice, then it must be acknowledged 
that there are vices which are useful in certain ages 
and countries/' O shame ! where hast thou fled ! 

Paine was not only low, vulgar, intemperate and 
filthy; he was also a sensualist of the very worst kind 
— having seduced from her husband Madame Bonne- 
ville, and brought her to this country, with whom he 
lived in shameless adultery during the remainder of his 
wretched life. Goodwin was not only a lewd infidel of 
the baser sort, but was the unblushing advocate of 
lewdness in others. Tanel, by the plausible argument 
that exposure was the only crime, succeeded in seduc- 
ing from her husband one of the otherwise finest women 
of France: and lived, as Paine would say, perfectly 
consistent with his principles. 

Rousseau says, "having heard that he who best fills, 
.the foundling hospital was the most applauded, I said 
to myself, since it is the custom of the country, they 
who live here may adopt it. I cheerfully determined 
upon it without the least scruple: and the only one I had 
to overcome was Therepa, who, with the greatest imag- 
inable difficulty I persuaded to comply." By her he sent 
at least two children to the foundling hospital. "The mo- 
ther was then obliged, with trembling," to comply ! Ite 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



13$ 



£ien went on from one sink of iniquity and pollution to 
another; seducing one woman after another, under the 
rno3t revolting circumstances, until, by his debauche- 
ries he became the greatest curse that ever polluted the 
air he breathed. And yet, his praises are recorded and 
sung by every infidel club, and his name and memory 
are now reveared in France, and embalmed in the 
breast of every modern infidel ! 

I could point you to infidels in our own country, and 
in our own day, the unblushing advocates of licentious- 
ness of every kind — who, crawling like a serpent brood 
of poisonous reptiles out of their murky dens, disgorge 
upon our happy land " a living leprosy." Shall I point 
you to those hell engendered systems, which, denying 
the blessed institution of matrimony, make men like 
lawless herds of filthy, roving swine? Then, like a 
bark foundering in a dark night, amid storms and tem- 
pests, should we see going down to eternal night the 
brightest hopes and fairest prospects upon which we 
had ever delighted to gaze. Shall I point you to a 
Kneeland, an Owen, or a Wright? No, no ! I will 
not pain you by calling those execrated names, the very 
mention of which, like the touch of the torpedo, 
carries with them a tremendous moral shock. Would 
to God their corrupting principles, had never disgraced 
and cursed our own happy country. 

Forget not that infidelity is the hot-bed of sensuality; 
that it is the end of ail virtue, of all chastity, of all fam- 
ily connections, of all conjugal fidelity, and of every 
endeared relation and connection that now blesses the 
sacred retreat of home, and makes the loved circle 
around our own fire-side a paradise of joy. 
M 



134 



TENDENCY OP INFIDELITY. 



These painted, infectious, flattering vermin, that as* 
sume a harlot's smile, and to deceive the inexperienced 
and the unsuspecting, wear a garb of friendship, are but 
a " slimy, croaking plague, " polluting with their filthy 
touch, and corrupting every moral thing in their infect- 
ing course. 

To show you still further the licentious and immoral 
tendency of infidelity, turn a moment to France, in all 
her guilt and desolation, in the days of the reign of 
infidelity, when she appeared a dark and final abyss 
of ruin, "where no solitary virtue gleamed; where no 
ray of hope or comfort trembled through the profound 
midnight to refresh the wearied sight;" to hush the 
deep and bitter sigh, or to relieve the quiverings of 
agony. The deep tones of her midnight knells filled 
the mind with indescribable gloom and horror; and 
compared with her dank and crowded prisons, her 
bloody sword, her stained bayonet, the midnight glare 
of her burning victims, her sucking-boat, and her guil- 
lotine, have turned all the complicated miseries and 
sufferings of man, with all the horrors of bloody wars, 
into idle tales, and filled with amazement and dismay 
the minds of every solemn spectator. Such was the 
fruit of infidelity in France, and such will be its fruit 
every where, and any where, when its iron grasp shall 
hold the reins of power. With all the blood and car- 
nage, sensuality and crime, identified with infidelity, 
one of its heaven daring champions affirms, "that the 
Christian religion is a pestilence more destructive to 
life, happiness, and peace, than all other pestilences 
combined." 

It may be thought a matter of doubt how far we 
ought to introduce such licentiousness of infidels in our 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



135 



public lectures. But I appeal to the good sense of this 
immense congregation, if they would have had me sup- 
press what has thus far been delivered'? Shall there 
be a ruining, threatening evil in the city, and the people 
not know it? Shall the minister see the heart-sickening 
and soul-debasing principle of infidelity, in all its con- 
centrated corruption, and not lift up his warning voice? 
Shall he be set for a watchman and a defence of the 
people, and not cry aloud and spare not, and return and 
discern between the righteous and the wicked, between 
him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. 

u The pulpit, when the satirist has at last, 

Strutting and vampering in an empty school, 

Spent all his force, and made no proselyte — 

I say, the pulpit, in the sober use 

Of its legitimate, peculiar powers, 

Must stand acknowledged while the world shall stand, 

The most important and effectual guard, 

Support and ornament of virtue's cause." 

No sooner -had infidelity assumed the reins of gov- 
ernment in France, than the Temple of Reason was 
inscribed upon the door of every church, in utter con- 
tempt of divine revelation; and the most licentious 
homilies were published in their churches; and the 
most ludicrous and contemptible farce was got up in 
imitation of the heathen mythology which our infidels so 
much admire; and all of this was called the " religion 
of nature." They dressed up in the most comical and 
fantastic manner, one of the lowest common lewd 
women, whom they blasphemously called " the goddess 
of reason;'' and who was carried to the church on 
men's shoulders; and was escorted by the national 
guards and the constituted authorities, and a whole train 
of lewd women, dancing with every indecent gesture, 



136 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



and but half clad ! This woman, whom we dare not 
name, was placed upon an altar erected for her in the 
church, where she sat in royal state and taught, like a 
nameless woman in our own country, her pernicious 
principles. When she had concluded her harangue, 
the people bowed in the profoundest admiration, singing 
the carmagnole and other licentious songs by way of 
worshipping her; and then, to conclude this scene, 
almost too horrible to relate, they burned the Bible and 
Prayer-Book, and every thing relating to religious 
worships while a multitude danced around the flames', 
frantic with infernal mirth and joy! These are the 
blessings infidelity proffers and these the scenes infidels 
would have you imitate! 

Need I say more to convince you that infidelity is 
subversive of ail morality and good order? Assuredly 
not. You will all join me in saying, of all curses it is 
the most accursed; of every wo the bitterest; of every 
plague the worst. 

I will give you another picture of infidel morality 
and purity, drawn from the city of Paris alone, and not 
taken either in the midst of infidel triumph; but when U 
had polluted all the fountains of social order and hap- 
piness, and these fountains were yet sending out their 
perturbed streams. The account I give you is official; 
being from a report of the prefect of police, to the grand 
judge of the district of Paris. 

From this report it appears, that there were, in one 
year, fourteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine 
legitimate births, and four thousand eight hundred and 
forty-one (one-fourth of the whole) illegitimate ; there 
were three thousand eight hundred and twenty-six mar- 
riages, and seven hundred and twenty (one-sixth the 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



187 



number) divorces; there died twelve thousand five hun- 
dred and ten in their own houses, and eight thousand 
two hundred and fifty-seven (two-fifths as many) in 
poor houses and hospitals; two. hundred and one were 
found dead in the street; four hundred and ninety men 
committed suicide, and one hundred and sixty-seven 
women, (making in all six thousand five hundred and 
seventy;) eighty-one men were murdered, and sixty- 
nine women, (one hundred and fifty in all;) one hundred 
and fifty-five murderers were executed; twelve hundred 
persons were condemned to the galleys; sixteen hun- 
dred and twenty -six were condemned to hard labor in 
prison, and sixty-four were branded with red hot irons. 
In the number of those executed, were seven fathers 
who had poisoned their children; ten husbands who had 
murdered their wives; six wives who had killed their 
husbands, and fifteen children who had murdered their 
parents. 

During the same year, there were twelve hundred 
and seventy-six lewd women registered, who paid from 
five to ten guineas each, according to their beauty and 
accomplishments, for the protection of the police; there 
were fifteen hundred and fifty-two kept mistresses, who 
w r ere noted; and there were three hundred and eight 
common brothels licensed by the public authorities, in 
Paris alone! Be not startled when I tell you, that this 
may not have been more than one-half or two-thirds of 
the whole amount of cases which actually occurred. 
Illegitimate births, and the consequent murder of such 
children, were unquestionably concealed in hundreds of 
instances, It is a common thing, even now, for women 
to be seen in a 'peculiar situation, while single, and yet 
M2 



138 



TENDENXY OF INFIDELITY*. 



no inquiry ever made for their children, who are doubt- 
less tnurde red ! Such were the annals of crime in a 
single city, in a single year — which will make even the 
licentious and profligate in our own cities to hang their 
heads in shame. 

Permit me here just briefly to show the influence of 
Christianity, in its unbounded benevolence and its con- 
stant sacrifices for the good of men, and see how 
different, O, how different, the sight! — how transcendant 
its glory ! 

Luke tells us, "they that believed had all things 
common, and sold their possessions and goods, and 
parted them to all men, as every man had need." The 
Romans, previous to conversion, were guilty of all 
manner of wickedness. Says Paul, " What fruit had 
ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed, for the 
end of those things is death V 9 In relation to the Co- 
rmthians, he says, 46 Be not deceived; neither fornicators, 
nor adulterers, nor idolaters, nor effeminate persons, 
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, 
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall 
inherit the kingdom of God ; and such were some of 
vou, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified in the name of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God." 
Says Peter to his converted Jewish brethren, " The 
time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the 
will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, 
lust, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abom- 
inable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that ye 
run not with them to the same excess of riot." Thus 
you see the happy change the gospel at once effected in 
the hearts and lives of the most abandoned and profligate. 
But who ever knew infidelity to work such a glorious 
change ? 



TENDENCY OS 1 INFIDELITY. 139 

Had we time and opportunity, we could fill a volume 
with quotations from the early fathers, as well as from 
their bitter enemies, testifying to the same change, from 
all that was vile and revolting, to all that was lovely and 
virtuous. Says Justin Martyr, who himself had been 
a heathen, "We who formerly delighted in adultery, 
now observe the strictest chastity ; we who used the 
charms of magic, have devoted ourselves to the true 
God ; and we who valued money and gain above all 
things, now cast what we have in common, and distribute 
to every man according to his necessities." Says Ter- 
tullian, " We deny not a pledge left with us ; we defile 
no man's marriage-bed ; we piously educate orphans ; 
relieve the indigent, and render to no man evil for evil." 
Says Origen, in his answer to the cavils of the infidel 
Celsus, " Inquire into the lives of some of us — compare 
our former with our present life, and you will find in 
what impurities and impieties men were involved before 
they embraced our doctrines ; but since they embraced 
them, how just, grave, moderate, and constant are they 
become. Yea, some of them are so inflamed with the 
love of purity and goodness, as to abstain even from 
lawful enjoyments. The church abounds with such 
men, wherever the doctrines of Christianity prevail." 
Says Lactantius, who had been a celebrated heathen 
philosopher, " So great is the efficacy of divine wisdom, 
that when once admitted into the human heart, it expels 
folly, the parent of all vice, and in accomplishing this 
great end there is no occasion for any great expense — ■ 
no absolute need of books, or deep or long study, or 
meditation. The benefit is bestowed gratuitously, easily, 
expeditiously, provided the heart and the ears thirst after 
wisdom. Did or could any of the heathen philosophers 



140 TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 

accomplish such important purposes as these V Thia 
change, this glorious change, effected by the grace of 
God upon the hearts of all who received it, is abundantly 
confirmed in the history of Tacitus and Suetonius; also, 
in the writings of Pliny, Trajan, Adrian, Aristides, 
Quadratus, Serenius, Grantianus, Marcus Antonius, 
&c, who, with such bitter and subtle opposers and 
professed infidels as Celsus, Porphyry, Julian, &c, in 
attempting to traduce and satirize Christianity, paid it 
the highest compliment in their power. 

We need not confine ourselves to the transcendant 
excellence of gospel effects in primitive times. The 
same results are now being experienced — it restrains 
vice and sensuality, regulates as by, -the "rudder's guid- 
ance and the curb's restraint," our lives and our passions, 
changing our sordid interests into benevolence and 
love. 

By Tertullian, we learn that the benevolence and 
good will of Christians were proverbial in his days, and 
it was universally said of them, " See how these Chris- 
tians love one another." And so surprising was this 
love to each other, that the heathen said, Christians had 
some "mysterious characters written on their bodies, and 
these had the unaccountable virtue of inspiring love for 
each other." Lucian, who lived in the reign of Marcus 
Aurelius, in his oration on the death of the philosopher 
Peregrinus, who burnt himself at the Olympic games, 
in his attempt to ridicule the Christians, paid them the 
highest compliment he possibly could. "It is incredible," 
says he, "what pains and diligence they use by all 
means to succor one. another. Their legislator made 
them believe that they are all brethren ; and since they 
have renounced our religion, and worshipped their cru- 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



141 



cfied leader, they live according to his law, and havs 
a5 their riches common!" 

Julian the Apostate, one of the most bitter persecutors 
the church ever had, aware of the influence of the 
Christian's benevolence, attempted to clothe his paganism 
withlhe same garb, and thus give it equal moral force. 
Jn writing to a pagan priest, he says, " Let us consider 
that nothing has so much contributed to the progress of 
the supe?stition of Christians, as their charity to stran- 
gers. I fcink we ought to discharge this obligation 
ourselves, establish hospitals in every place — for it 
would be a sVame for us to abandon our poor, while the 
impious Gallileans [meaning Christians,] provide not 
only for their own, but also for ours." 

Theodoret says, that St. Chrysostom assembled monks, 
full of zeal, and sent them to preach the gospel in 
Phoenicia, and having understood that there were persons 
dispersed along the banks of the Danube, who thirsted 
for the waters of grace, sought out men of ardent zeal, 
whom he sent to labor like apostles in the propagation 
of the faith. Witness their unbounded zeal, and care 
for the sick. They kept persons on purpose for this 
pious office; and we are informed by Theodosius, that 
there were six hundred persons, at one time, in the city 
of Alexandria alone, employed for this benevolent 
purpose. 

Eusebius has most beautifully expressed this trait of 
Christian character. Speaking of a most tremendous 
plague which ravaged Egypt, he says, "Many of our 
brethren, neglecting their own health, through an excess 
of charity, have brought upon themselves the misfortunes 
and maladies of others. After they had held in their 
arms the dying saints; after they had closed their mouths^ 



143 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



their eyes ; after they had embraced, kissed, washej, 
and adorned them in their best habits, and carried them 
on their shoulders to the grave, they have been glad 
themselves to receive the same kind offices from others 
who have imitated their zeal and charity." 

St. Ambrose, on one occasion, was desirous t<> sell 
the sacred utensils of the church, to redeem -somo 
Christians from captivity. It is related by Socrates, in 
his history, that the Romans had taken seven thousand 
prisoners; many of whom perished with hunger. Acca- 
cius, a christian bishop, called his church together, and 
thus addressed them — " God needeth not either dishes 
or cups, as he neither eats nor drinks. I think it right, 
therefore, to make a sale of the greatest part of the 
church's plate, and to apply the money to the support 
and the redemption of the captives.' 7 This, says So- 
crates was accordingly done, by fnelting down the 
plate. 

Look again to the numerous hospitals they founded, 
and to the almost incredible number of poor they sup- 
ported. Says St. Chrysostom, "consider among many 
poor widows and orphans, this church distributes the 
charity of one rich man. The number on the catalogue 
is three thousand, not to mention extraordinary assist- 
ances given to prisoners, people sick in hospitals, stran- 
gers, leprous persons, servants of the church, and ma- 
ny other persons whose necessities oblige them to apply 
every day, and who receive both food and clothing." 

Look at the splendid conduct of the church of Rome, 
in regard to the impious Decius. This cruel tyrant 
demanded their treasure. A deacon, in behalf of tho 
church, requested one day to give an answer, which 
was granted. At the close of the day, he assembled 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



143 



all the blind, the lame, and the sick, who were sup- 
ported by the church, and then, pointing to them, told 
the tyrant, " These are the riches of the church — these 
its revenue hnd treasure. 75 

How simple! how sublime! how full of unfading 
glory was the epitaph written upon the tomb of Atolua 
at Rheims, " He exported his fortune before him into 
heaven, and he kas gone thither to enjoy it" 

But I forget. To attempt to give a history, or even a 
sketch of the transcendent excellence and power of the 
glorious gospel of the blessed God is vain, fruitless and 
abortive. You might as well expect to separate one 
single particle of light from that eternal flood of splen- 
dor which the glorious orb of day pours around him — in 
which, as in an evev lucid sea, our whole planetary 
system moves ! Or, you might as well bring down one 
single note from the unbroken melody of that eternal 
song, which rises and swells and melts, from countless 
millions, into one undying harmony ! Conscience 
checks you, as you begin the separation, for you leave 
behind a luminous cloud of witnesses, rendered resplen- 
dent and glorious by the eternal ' radiance which the 
exercise of heavenry benevolence has drav/n around 
them. 

(i The men of grace have found 
Glory begun below : 
Celestial fruit on earthly ground 
From faith and hope may grow. 

The hill of Zion yields 

A thousand sacred sweets, 
Before we reach the heavenly fields 

Or walk the golden streets." 

How unlike the calm and sweet serenity of the sainte 
of the most high God, are infidels! How unlike an 



144 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



assembly like this are infidel clubs ! They meet on 
God's holy day to confirm each other in infidelity, and 
to "join hand in hand r ' in wickedness. The oaths and 
soul-sickening imprecations uttered, are quite too horri- 
ble to relate; while in seme of these meetyngs, the Bible 
is thrown upon the floor, kicked round the house, and 
trod under foot, amid the most hellish mirth ! I do not 
say that such things are done in every infidel club, or 
by every infidel; but I say, it is a common thing; and 
the word of God constitutes, alternately, the object of 
their mirth and contempt; and that such scenes are the 
legitimate fruits of infidelity. The swine who has just 
returned from an ablution in a clear stream, is still a 
a swine, though he be not found wallowing in the mire 
— his native element. The drunkard is still a drunkard, 
though you may occasionally find him a sober man. 
And an infidel is an infidel stDl, though you may see 
him in seasons when the bold, blasphemous impreca- 
tion does not tremble upon his polluted lip. But, be- 
lieve me, it moves in the same eternal round, find it 
where you will, and under every form and name it is 
associated with the same base and corrupting principles, 
and carried out by the vileness o£ the same licentious 
practices. The seductive poison is sometimes cautiously 
yet always artfully infused into the golden chalice, and 
whoever drinks will feel the same hallucination, when 
it is perhaps too late to return. . 

I ask you, young gentlemen, this evening, in the 
name of all that is sacred, and of all you hope, and of 
all you desire, where would you go for specimens of 
moral character, and for principles to carry you through 
life? Will you turn to the licentious creeds of infidels 
f6r moral principle* or to their lives for specimens of 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



145 



mmtol purity ? Ah ! as soon would you expect to hear 
angelic music amid the wailings of the damned in hell, 
or to see the splendors of heaven in their ascending 
columns of fire and smoke, as to look for refinement of 
morals in infidel clubs or sceptical associations. A 
French writer, and a friend too of Voltaire, in writing 
to him, asks him this question : " Will you dare assert, 
that it is in philosophic families we are to look for models 
of filial respect, conjugal love, sincerity in friendship, 
or fidelity among domestics % Were you disposed to do 
so, would not your own conscience, your own experi- 
ence suppress the falsehood even before your lips could 
utter it ?" 

Mirabeau, one of the oldest infidel writers, says, that 
* 'Atheism will not make a wicked man good-" Noble 
confession is this for an infidel ! It was made, however, 
in the calmness of a sober moment. 

Bayle, speaking of some infidels, says, " Those who 
embraced the sect of Epicurus, did not become debau- 
chees because they had embraced the doctrine of Epicu- 
rus, but only embraced the doctrine because they were 
debauchees !" You never knew, young gentlemen, $ 
stream to rise higher or to be more pure than its fountain. 
We have now shown you the principles and the practices 
of the leaders of infidelity. You will not, you cannot, 
expect to find their descendants, their followers, and 
their imitators, rising higher in moral purity than the 
fountain head from whence they receive all their streams 
of knowledge. But you will as naturally expect to find 
them degenerate, and sink deeper and still deeper in 
depravity, as you will expect to find them vegetate and 
rot in moral putrefaction. Why is it, that in all our 
prisons, penitentiaries, and poor-houses, as well as of 
N 



146 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



all the criminals executed, there are found, out of thou- 
sands, but here and there a solitary one who has ever 
been to a Sabbath School ? This speaks volumes for 
early moral instruction. Would you expect such to 
be the result if all the thousands of children were under 
infidel instruction % No — there is not an infidel in this 
house who believes it. You would as certainly expect 
to find them hordes of marauders, felons, and assassins, 
aa they had been under infidel instruction. 

Infidelity is as much a fruitful source of poverty, 
with all that train of diseases and miseries it induces, 
as it is of ignorance and vice. In exact proportion as 
infidelity gains influence, vice, misery, poverty, and 
disease gain with it. It is like the fabled Pandora's 
box: when opened, legions of wars, curses, plagues, 
and every agent that can pest and work ruin, instantly 
disgorge and commence their work of anarchy and 
crime. I will give you but one specimen of the poverty 
it induces. There is a parish in Fife, in Scotland, where 
religious principles have been early and thoroughly 
instilled in the minds of the rising generation, until most 
of its inhabitants are under the influence of the gospel. 
In that parish the maintenance of the whole poor costs 
only twenty-four pounds sterling a year. While a 
parish, of the same number of inhabitants, in Somer- 
setshire, loose in principle and loose in morals, pays for 
the maintenance of its poor, thirteen hundred pounds 
sterling a year ! This immense difference is owing 
entirely to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Infidelity, then, 
leads on to poverty, with all the virulence of a powerful 
foe hostile to the best interests of man, and of a for- 
midable and obstinate disease ! It opens the flood-gates 
of poverty, and consequent crime, which, like the 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



147 



mountain torrent, would, could it break down every 
embankment thrown up against it, roll on with accumu- 
lating mischiefs, overflowing all that is beautiful and 
lovely in nature, and spreading its pestilential streams, 
which will feed again the fountain that gave them birth, 
until a depraved and beggarly population feel all the 
misery of an inextricable helplessness, without the 
glimmerings of hope that their augmenting wretchedness 
will be relieved ! As the heathen thought that Minerva 
issued, full armed, from the head of Jupiter, so, no 
sooner is infidelity embraced than it gives birth to every 
corrupt and ugly passion, and engenders that kind of 
ferocity which at once converts men into moral felons. 

Were such principles to be taught and reduced to 
practice, the Sabbath, the blessed Sabbath, the polar 
star of hope, the anchor of our nation's ship, the day 
of rest and worship, the dawn of heaven itself, would 
be blotted out forever. Our heaven-born and blood- 
bought institutions would go down into the same grave 
that entombs the Sabbath. No country ever was or 
ever will be blessed, where there is a universal desecra- 
tion of God's holy day. It is the deep-toned knell, the 
last solemn dirge over a nation's greatness. Mute as 
the unbroken silence of death, would be the voice of 
the servant of God. This world would at once become 
one vast " theatre of mischief and of misery; an im- 
mense den of thieves and robbers ; a sink of moral 
pollution ; a scene of impiety, injustice, rapine and 
devastation ;" an eternal Golgotha, strewed with car- 
casses and 6 * dead men's bones !" 

Says a modern writer on infidelity, "I have known 
about two hundred persons professing infidelity, out of 
which a large majority have manifested undeniable 



14S 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



insanity, and have met with disgraceful deaths, the fruit 
of their own corrupt propensities and vicious habits !" 
What a strong evidence against infidelity, is the fact, 
that a " large majority, out of about two hundred active 
infidels, were guilty of murder, suicide, stealing, rob- 
bery, perjury, house-breaking, house-burning, and other 
impurities and enormities of the most beastly character, 
and finally died the most ignominious deaths to satisfy 
the violated laws of their country. I make this state- 
ment, [continues he,] not from pamphlets, but from 
known facts. Many of them were my neighbors, and 
some my school-mates." 

Incest of the most revolting kind, too horrrible and 
indecent here to mention, has been practiced and advo- 
cated by American infidels. Since the days of Cain, 
who was marked as an apostate from the faith, and 
wandered about a fugitive and vagabond on the earth, a 
vast majority of infidels, like their progenitor, have 
been wandering fugitives and vagabonds on the earth — 
disgracing human nature and cursing the world ! What 
else can we expect or hope from those who boast them- 
selves as being the offspring and product of chance — - 
in love with universal confusion and disorder, and enjoy- 
ing happiness only from those enterprises of guilt and. 
horror that require, even to make the reproof of their 
half-murdered consciences supportable, the deepest en- 
velopement of thick darkness, which the "eye of heaven 
itself must not pierce !" 

Said a keeper of one of our state prisons, "Of all 
the hundreds of that degraded class committed to my 
care, I have not found one who had received an early 
religious education, or who had been blessed with a pious 
mother 99 Modern infidels, I know, have been loud and 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 149 



clamorous about the number of convicts in our peniten- 
tiaries from the church of God, forgetting, however, 
that Satan sometimes " transforms himself into an angel 
of light;" and " no marvel," truly, if his infidel servants 
do the same thing. Infidels, as we have already shown, 
by the vilest hypocrisy, profess religion — creeping into 
churches unawares, to spy out Christian liberty and 
bring it into disrepute. 

Who ever heard or knew a person to renounce infi- 
delity and embrace Christianity, that was not infinitely 
more pure in morals — a t once sober, chaste, and a " new 
man V y And who ever knew a person to embrace infi- 
delity, that did not at once become desperately wicked, 
gross, vulgar, and in most instances a dangerous member 
of society % These are the legitimate tendencies of the 
two principles. 

Cobbet, in his life of Paine, gives this glowing yet 
honest description of his friend and companion: "How 
Tom gets a living now, or what brothel he inhabits, I 
know not, nor does it much signify to any body here, 
or any where else. He has done all the mischief he 
can do in the world, and whether his carcass is to be at 
last suffered to rot on the earth, or to be dried in the 
air, is of very little consequence. Whenever or wher- 
ever he breathes his last, he will excite neither pity or 
compassion ; no friendly hand will close his eyes ; not 
a groan w T ill be uttered, nor a tear will be shed. Like 
Judas, he will be remembered by posterity — men will 
learn to express all that is base, malignant, treacherous, 
unnatural, and blasphemous, by the single monosyllable, 
Paine!" This prediction w^as most strikingly true; he 

died unwept, unpitied, and universally despised ; and 
N 2 



150 



TENDENCY OP INFlDELtTY. 



hi3 name will ever stand for all that is corrupt in prin- 
ciple, base in practice, and ruinous in tendency. To 
turn this earth into a hell, would only require its inhab- 
itants to be changed into infidels, in principle and in 
practice ! 

I have already exceeded my usual length, and must 
close; but I find that in fixing the time to close on 
next Sabbath evening, I have, and must be compelled to 
leave out a vast amount of facts which I should have 
been glad to have laid before you — convinced as I am 
that but very few indeed have examined this subject as 
they ought. It is now time that every lover of his coun- 
try, every philanthropist, and every one that desires to 
bless mankind, should carefully examine this subject. 

Hear the boast of an infidel of our own times, and 
who now professes to stand at the head of the infidel 
world in Europe and in America, and who has infested 
our atmosphere, by his contagious poison. Says he, 
" There is no power on earth that can resist its pro- 
gress. It is proceeding forward with a mighty impetus, 
such as your minds are now inadequate to comprehend. 
This new scientific, mechanical, and chemical power 
: j advancing with the efficient force of an army equal 
to many hundreds of millions of men, well disciplined 
and provided to accomplish its purpose." But he 
assures us that infidelity alone is adequate to its proper 
direction; and he as unblushingly tells us that all the 
great men both in the old world and the new, are cast- 
ing off the shackles of religion and maintaining a noble 
independence of all its precepts. In this boast, however, 
there is nothing alarming. It is a specimen of their 
regard for truth! 

Listen for a moment to the blasphemous language of 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



151 



the celebrated De la Metherie, the author of quite a 
popular philosophical journal. In his remarks upon 
the doctrine and nature of crystalization he made this 
expression, " The highest and most perfect form of 
crystalization, is that which is vulgarly called God." 

But I will not shock you longer on this occasion with 
infidel quotations. I will give you, in the next lecture, 
an account of the end and death of some of these infi- 
del philanthropists, who laughed at death, and defied 
• their God while in health, but in death felt that the 
powers of the world to come had taken hold of them — 
showing the solemn and most awful truth of that fearful 
declaration, that "the wicked is driven away in his 
wickedness." We will show you in their last moments, 

" -How the frantic soul 

Raves round the walls of her clay tenement; 
Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help — 
But shrieks in vain! How wishfully she looks 
On all she's leaving, now no longer hers! 
A little longer, yet a little longer, 
O! might she stay, to wash away her crimes, 
And fit her for her passage! Mournful sight! 
Her very eyes weep blood, and every groan 
She heaves is big with horror; but the foe, 
Like a staunch murderer, steady to his purpose, 
Pursues her close through every lane of life, 
Nor misses once his aim, but presses on, 
'Till, forced at last to the tremendous verge, 
At once she sinks." 

Oh ! my God ! if this be the end of the infidel, 
" My soul, come not thou into their secret ! unto their 
assembly, mine honor, be not thou united." 

We shall show you, in what a most fearful manner 
was fulfilled, in the last moments of many infidels, that 
threatening of the Almighty, " Because I have called 
~ and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no 



152 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 



man regarded : but ye have set at naught all my coun- 
sel, and would none of my reproof : I also will laugh 
at your calamity, and will mock when your fear cometh: 
when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruc- 
tion cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish 
cometh upon you — then shall they call upon me, but I 
will not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they 
shall not find me : for they hated knowledge — therefore 
shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be 
filled with their own devices.'' 

This will be the doom of every oppose r of religion, 
of every scorner of the revelation of Heaven. They 
shall be snared and taken in their own devices. Hun- 
dreds have already left this world with this affecting and 
lamentable wail, "The harvest is past, the summer is 
ended, and my soul is not saved." Let me say to every 
one of you who doubts the record that God has given, 
and sports with all that is sacred — 

"That awful day will surely come— 
The appointed hour makes haste, 
When you must stand before your Judge, 
And pass the solemn test." 

Who in this assembly, could bear the cruel thought 
of living without virtue ? Fathers! could you look with 
cold indifference upon your own sons, as they despised 
all virtue and morality, and plunged into vice? Mothers! 
could you look without weeping tears of blood upon 
your own beloved daughters disrobed of virtue ? Ah ! 
no : it would bring down your gray hairs with sorrow 
to the grave. Young Ladies! is there in all the range 
of human language, a word that chills so quick the 
vital current, as the withering name of " Infidel?" 



TENDENCY OF INFIDELITY. 153 

Assuredly there is not; the warm affection of woman's 
heart, and the tender sensibilities of her gentle nature, 
could illy bear the rude shock, or look with complacency 
and delight upon the ugly features of infidelity. Young 
gentlemen, I have already appealed to you ; but on 
behalf of my country, my Redeemer, and my fellow- 
men, I appeal to you again. Will you, O will you 
disappoint the expectations of the world, when they 
look to you as pillars to support the great temple of 
liberty, which is to lift up its head to heaven, and from 
the top of which is to be seen by every nation under 
heaven, floating the broad banners of human liberty, 
and of religious freedom? I see by the kindling of 
your eye, and the lighting up of your countenance, that 
this appeal is not in vain ! 

God speed you on your way, until the character of 
man shall be renovated, and all that is amiable and 
lovely shall receive the impress of heaven ; until the 
present inhabitants of the world now in ruins around 
us, and our mother earth soaked in blood, and drenched 
with tears, shall again bloom in all the freshness of 
undecaying verdure and beauty, and a glorious paradise 
of joy spontaneously return. Then shall our blessed 
Messiah, the joy of all heaven, see the travail of his 
soul, and smile in satisfaction ; while we shall rejoice 
in the blessed assurance, that though — 

" The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, 
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away; 
Fix'd is his word, his saving power remains, 
Thy realm forever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns/' 



REIGN OF INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 



''Then shall ye re'urn, and discern between the. righteous and the wicked j 
between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not. — Mal. 3: It. 

(i Another lesson with my manhood came, 
I have unlearned CDntempt. It is the sin 
That is engendered earliest in the soul, 
And doth beset it like a poison-worm, 
Feeding on all its beauty. As it steals 
Into the bosom, yon may see the light 
Of the clear, heavenly eye grow cold and dim, 
And the fine, upright glory of the brow 
Cloud with mistrust, and the unfettered lip, 
That was as free and changeful as the wind, 
And e'en in sadness redolent of love; 
Curled with the iceness of a constant scorn. 
It eats into the mind till it pollutes 
All its pure fountains. Feeling, reason, taste, 
Breathe of its chill corruption. Every sense 
That could convey a pleasure is benumbed, 
And the bright human being, that was made 
Full of warm affections and with power 
To look through all things lovely up to God, 
Is changed into a cold and doubling fiend, 
With but one use for reason to despise" 

u It i3 dangerous, ?? says the eloquent Hall, 44 to 
familiarize every promiscuous audience to look upon 
religion as a thing which yet remains to be proved, to 
acquaint them with every sophism and cavil which a 
perverse and petulant ingenuity has found out, unac- 



REIGN OP INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 



155 



companied, as is too often the case, with a satisfactory 
answer — thus leaving the poisonto operate without the 
antidote." 

" It is," continues he, " degrading to the dignity of a 
revelation established through a succession of ages by 
indubitable proofs, to be adverting every moment to the 
hypothesis of its being an imposture, and to be inviting 
every insolent caviler to wrangle with us about the title 
when we should be cultivating the possession." 

We have not, therefore, adverted to the proof of the 
divine inspiration of the oracles of God in these lectures. 
We have only shown you that a disbelief of them is the 
fruitful source of all iniquity, impiety and blood. We 
have seen that scepticism leads to all manner of vice, 
breaks down every barrier to iniquity, and sweeps away 
at once every motive to a virtuous life. We have 
■-~ pointed you already to France, as a standing monument 
of the bloody, the licentious, and the corrupting influence 
of infidelity. We will give you, however, another 
view of it, while it was under the control of infidelity. 

I point you, young gentlemen, the more readily to 
France, because it is the only country where infidelity 
has ever had the entire ascendancy and control. The 
tendency, however, of infidelity is the same, the world 
over; and, of course, its results will be the same, wher- 
ever it shall gain absolute dominion, and assume unlimited 
control. This tremendous and bloody revolution was 
prepared by the writings of Voltaire, Mirabeau, Diderot, 
Helvetius, D'Alembert, Condorcet, Rousseau, and others 
of the same infidel stamp, who, to give more popularity 
and force to their writings, mingled them with science 
and politics, the better to disguise their haggard features 
and conceal the poison of their gilded pills. 



158 



REIGN OP INFIDELITY IN FRANCE* 



Not content and satisfied to poison men — as they did 
by their writings, and thus sweep down whole platoons, 
as by canister and chain-shot — they frequented coffee 
houses, and other places of public resort, and with their 
accustomed hypocrisy, entered into warm disputes with 
each other on religious subjects — one in the pretended 
character of a friend of religion, would attempt its 
defence, and by his defeat and the infidel's triumph, 
would blind the ignorant and unthinking, and thus bring 
religion into contempt and disrepute. 

It was by such unwearied efforts, such vile hypocrisy, 
and the most palpable falsehoods, that the French nation 
had almost entirely become infidel, and of course reck- 
less in sentiment, and ripe for any revolution of ferocity 
and blood. It was then that the abolition of the Christian 
era was proclaimed. "Death is an eternal sleep," was 
ordered to be written over the entrance of every grave- 
yard, to destroy, if possible, the fear of death. The 
immortality of the soul, and the existence of God, were 
in a most solemn and formal manner denied by the 
National Convention ; while, by the same assembly, the 
glorious hope of a blessed resurrection from the dead, 
was decreed to be only the child of ignorance and super- 
stition, and preached for the torment of the living! All 
religions in the world were proclaimed false and dan- 
gerous; and that it was the duty of the Convention to 
disseminate the principles of Atheism (which they 
blasphemously called the only truth) all over the world. 
We have already shown you what was the result — that 
every church of God was declared to be a " temple of 
reason;'' that the most filthy, disgusting, and abominable 
homilies were got up in honor of the heathen mytholo- 
gies ; and that contempt for all religion and decency 



REIGN OF INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 157 

became the only test of attachment to the government 
and the country. Lewdness of every kind, became a 
subject of universal applause, and the infraction of all 
moral and social relations, together with every species 
of debauchery, w«re victories over priestcraft and 
prejudice ! 

All distinctions between right and wrong were in- 
stantly confounded- Then, says an able writer, whose 
words I give, * ' Then proscription followed upon pro- 
scription, tragedy followed after tragedy, in almost 
breathless succession on the theater of France — almost 
Che whole nation was converted Into a horde of assassins. 
Democracy and Atheism, hand in hand, desolated the 
country, mnd converted it into one vast field of rapine 
and of blood. The moral and social ties were unloosed, 
or rather torn asunder. For a man to accuse his own 
father, was declared to be an a^ct of civism worthy of 
a true republican, while to refuse thus to accuse him, 
was a crime punishable with death. Accordingly, 
women denounced their husbands, and mothers their 
sons, as bad citizens and traitors, while many women — 
not of the class of the common people, nor of infamous 
characters, but respectable in reputation and appear- 
ance — seized with savage ferocity, between their teeth, 
the mangled limbs of their murdered countryman. It 
appeared for a season as if the knell of the whole nation 
was tolled, and the world was summoned to its execution 
and its funeral P Such were some of the scenes that 
were attendant on the triumph of infidelity. 

But I cannot trace this " bloodiest picture in the book 
of time." Its scenes were too horrible for language to 
express. Its cold-blooded malignity, its insatiable rapa- 
city, its violence and sword, have turned into idle rumors 
O 



15S 



REIGN OF INFIDELITY IN PRANCE. 



all the complicated misery and woe of preceding ages. 
While infidelity was thus enthroned in power, and 
boasting of the illumination of philosophy, it wielded 
the sword with infernal ferocity, for the entire exter- 
mination of every professed disciple of Jesus Christ. 
They butchered them in every street, hunted them as 
wild beasts, roasted them alive, and drowned them by 
hundreds together, without judge or jury, accusation 
or trial ! 

At Nantz alone, no less than three hundred and sixty 
priests were shot, and four hundred and sixty drowned. 
In one night, fifty-eight were shut up in a barge and 
drowned in the Loire. Two hundred and ninety-two 
priests were massacred during the bloody scenes of the 
tenth of August, and second of September, 1792 ; and 
eleven hundred and thirty-five were guillotined by order 
of the National Convention, from September, 1792, to 
the end of 1795 — besides hundreds and thousands that 
perished in different ways, by private malice and indi- 
vidual revenge ! 

On the murder of near relations, there would some- 
times be remorse and sympathetic feeling. This was 
to be overcome. The preamble of the bloody mandate 
to effect this diabolical purpose is too horrible to be 
related. It chills the blood to read it. It begins in these 
words: "By the thunder of God — in the name of the 
representatives of the French people — on pain of death, 
it is ordered," &c. Under this infamous mandate, to 
be seen looking sorrowful or weeping, was but to seal 
the sentence of death against yourself. The last ves- 
tige of Christianity was to be destroyed forever ! 

It was Sunday, the day consecrated to the worship of 
.Almighty God, when a vast concourse of Democrats, 



REIGN OF INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 



159 



men and women, assembled at a signal agreed upon, 
formed themselves into a mock procession, preceded by 
the image of Challier, and followed by a little detached 
troop, each bearing in his hand a chalice or some other 
vase of the church. One of these sacrilegious wretches 
led an ass, covered with a priest's vestment, and with a 
miter on his head. He was loaded with crosses and 
other symbols of the Christian religion, and had the Old 
and New Testaments suspended to his tail ! Arrived 
at the square called the Terreaux, they then threw the 
two Testaments into the fire, with the crucifixes that 
had been prepared for them. They then made the ass 
drink out of the sacramental cup, to complete their 
diabolical profanation ! ! This was the prelude to the 
butchery which followed. Those who led the unhappy 
sufferers to execution, were ordered no longer to confine 
themselves to those whose names were on the list of 
proscription; but were allowed to take to the guillotine 
whom they pleased. The words, nobleman, priest, or 
even honest man, were so many terms for proscription 
and death. Three times was the place of the guillotine 
changed, and at every place holes were dug in the earth 
to receive the blood ; and yet it ran in the gutters ! The 
executioners were tired out, yet the deputies were en- 
raged to see the work go on so slowly. Accordingly 
the massacre began- en masse. The prisoners were led 
out, from one to two hundred at a time, into the outskirts 
of the city, where they were fired upon or stabbed. 
Two hundred and sixty-nine persons were taken indis- 
criminately, among all classes and ages, led out to 
Brotteaux, and there tied to trees. In this situation, they 
were fired upon with grape shot. Many of the unfor- 
tunate wretches would have only their limbs broken by 



160 



REIGN OF INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 



the artillery, and then would be despatched with the 
sword or with muskets. The greatest part of the bodies 
were thrown into the Rhone, some of them before they 
were quite dead f 

One of the most interesting, accomplished, and beau- 
tiful women of her day, proverbial for benevolence and 
kindness to the poor, the princess of Lamballe, was 
sent amid scenes of carnage to the prison of La Foreev 
At seven o'clock, she was dragged by the hair of her 
head into court, where crowds were still waiting for 
their sentence. Here she was compelled to stand and 
wait these cold-blooded proceedings, until nine o'clock T 
when she was again dragged to the execution. These 
incarnate demons— or, in the courteous language of 
sceptics, " these noble minded infidels !" — tried every 
inducement to have her kneel down amid a pile of dead 
bodies, and ask pardon of the nation. She replied, " 1 
have not injured the nation — I expect no mercy at your 
hands — go on, ruffians 1* when they seized her, cut off 
her head, opened her body, took out her heart, and bit 
it with their teeth ! They then put it in a basin, stuck 
her head upon a pole, and carried them through the 
streets of Paris ! Her body they stripped, and exposed 
it naked to the populace ! ! For a full description of 
these horrid scenes, see Barruel, Simpson's Plea for 
Religion, Turreau's History, Anthony Aufrere's &c. 
O, infidelity ! what infernal fury impels thee to mar 
every thing lovely, to destroy every thing good, and like 
the deadly worm of Nile, to poison every thing within 
thy reach ? How canst thou riot in the blood of inno- 
cence, and fatten upon the spoils of loveliness and 
virtue ? O, thou unpardonable infidel ! sold under 
siu — 



&EIGN OP INFIDELITY IN PRANCE. 



161 



4i Thou art the devil's pioneer, who cut 

The fences down of virtue — sap'd her walls, 

And opened a smooth and easy way to death. 

Traitor to all existence — to all life! 

Soul-suicide! determined foe of being! 

Intended murderer of God Most High! 

Strange road, most strange, to seek for happiness ! 

Hell's madhouses are full of such — too fierce, 

Too furiously insane and desperate, 

To range, unbound, 'mong evil spirits damned!" 

" Behold the picture ! Is it like V Like whom ? Ah ! 
like him— the openly avowed and most determined foe 
of God, and man's best interest— drinking the blood of 
innocence and virtue, with horrid relish — laughing to 
stand upon the holy book of God, with vile contempt, 
and " with infernal chemistry, to wring the last sweet 
drop from sorrow's cup of gall !" 

But of this scene, you have had enough. To bring 
about this " blessed revolution!" this triumph of infi- 
delity, perfidy, over religion and " priestcraft," these 
infidel revolutionists spent annually the sum of nine 
hundred thousand pounds sterling ! ! And yet, our 
modern infidels have the unblushing effrontery to traduce 
the glorious benevolence of the saints, in their noble and 
godlike exertions to carry peace and salvation to the 
ends of the earth, and to bind up the bleeding and lacer- 
ated bosom torn by the rude and bloody hand of infidelity, 
by bestowing a, part of their worldly substance. Let 
infidels encircle their brows with laurels dyed in blood* 
But let us say with Job, "When the ear heard me, then 
it blessed me; w r hen the eye saw me, it gave witness to 
me — because I delivered the poor that cried, and the 
fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The 
blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, 
and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." 
O 2 



162 



REIGN OP INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 



Ia this short reign of infidelity in that unhappy country 
there perished by the hand of violence more than three 
millions of her purest citizens. There were a few 
master spirits, who, amid all these scenes of misery and 
blood, cultivated the sciences ; but even the exclusion of 
their profession could not save them. Lavoisier, one of 
the most celebrated chemists in France, was interrupted 
in the midst of some of his most brilliant experiments, 
and rudely dragged to the guillotine, where in company 
with twenty others he was beheaded, for no other crime 
than being rich ! 

I did think, young gentlemen, I would give you a few 
specimens of the general character of the French for 
many years after their revolution, and show you how 
infidelity still taints the public mind, and prostrates all 
morals, though religion in many parts now has a name 
to live. I will spare your feelings, however, from the 
painful scenes in the porticoes and saloons of the Palais 
Royal, with their open, shameless schools of prostitu- 
tion, and their immense gambling establishments, or the 
Salon des Etrangers, the most celebrated haunt of this 
Dom-Daniel, where every man, and woman too, is turned 
into a panderer of damnation, and you are invited to 
recline upon the bosom of the second death I Shall I 
mention more ? No : such scenes we will pass in 
silence, and pray the blessed God to preserve us from 
their debasing influence. 

I remarked, last Sabbath evening, that wherever infi- 
delity gained influence, the holy Sabbath was blotted out, 
and all the rich and varied circle of heavenly privileges 
which cluster around that sacred day, and make it to the 
pious soul like the very entrance of heaven, is swept 
away by its cold and wintry blast, leaving nothing in its 



REIGN OF INFIDELITY IN FRANCE. 163 

room but profanity and cursing. Soon after the return 
of Louis XVIII. to the throne of his ancestors, the 
French compelled him to repeal his decree for enforcing 
a more decent observance of the Sabbath. Sunday 
was the day appointed to celebrate the return of Bona- 
parte from Elba in 1815, when all the theaters were 
open free of expense ! In the grand square were 
erected theaters, rope-dancers, circuses and fire-works. 
Wines and all manner of confectionaries were displayed 
gratis, to the licentious and half intoxicated throng. 
Says one of their public journals, "the dansomania of 
both sexes seems rather to increase than decrease with 
the warm weather. Sixty balls were advertised for last 
Sunday, and sixty-nine for the next." "Anyone walk- 
ing in the Eiysian fields, or on the Boulevards," says a 
modern traveler, " may be convinced that these temples 
of pleasure are not without worshipers. Besides these, 
in our own walks, last Sunday, we counted not less 
than twenty-two gardens, not advertised, where there 
was fiddling and dancing. For the trifle of four-pence, 
a husband and wife, with their children, may dance 
from three o'clock in the afternoon till eleven at night! 
We observed, in one garden, four generations dancing 
together; — the great grand-sire dancing with his great 
grand-daughter, and the great grand-mamma dancing 
with her great grand-son!" This is the way infidels 
worship, on God's holy day, and spend the blessed 
Sabbath ! 

But wo have shown you enough of the demoralizing 
influence of infidelity upon national character, as well 
as individual. We may say here, however, that to no 
nation under the whole heavens, are we so much in- 
debted for the rapid spread of infidelity and its kindred 



164 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



principles of licentiousness and abominations, as we are 
to the French. That nation, steeped as it has been in 
infidelity, and infected as it still is with it, is becoming 
the moral corrupter of the world — the destroyer of 
mankind. 

We have seen the influence of infidelity on individ- 
uals — we have brought before you their standards of 
morality and virtue, tending to weaken and destroy 
virtue, and to strengthen every vice — we have seen the 
licentiousness of their lives, and listened to their obscene 
and blasphemous ribaldry — we have looked again, and 
have seen scathing, blighting and mildew following their 
footsteps, and the blackness of darkness surrounding 
them, as they wend their way along the deep recesses 
of moral depravity ! We will now show you their 
death, for " the death-bed is the detecter of every man's 
thoughts !" 

" Here resistless demonstration dwells; 
Here tired dissimulation drops her mask; 
Here real and apparent are the same. 1 ' 

The stoutest heart will sometimes quake with fear, and 

the bold blasphemous man, who, in health, defied his 

God, has been shaken with terror, and confessed that, 

which all his life, he had denied and labored to destroy. 

"The grave, dread thing! 
Men shiver when thou art named. Nature, appall'd, 
Shakes off her wonted firmness. Oh ! how dark 
Thy long extended realms, and rueful wastes, 
Where naught but silence reigns, and night, dark night!" 

These scenes have shaken all of man's boasted firmness, 
and made him drop his mask, and appear just as he 
really is without disguise. It is often said, that "expe- 
rience is the best instructor." A man's boasted victory 
over the fear of death is nothing, if made in health. 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 165 

It is only in death, that experience can serve us on this 
subject. We will, therefore, show what experience we 
have of the moral efficacy of infidelity in death. 

William Pope, of Bolton, in Lancashire, after having 
abjured religion he joined himself to an infernal infidel 
crew, was suddenly taken sick, and such was the nature 
of his disease, that he confessed that the hand of God 
was upon him, and prayed to die, that he might go to 
hell and receive damnation! Rev. Messrs. Rhodes and 
Barrowclough called upon him, in order to pray for 
him; but with the fury of an incarnate demon, as soon 
as they approached his dying bed, he spit in their faces, 
and threw at them every thing he could reach, and with 
demoniac vigor struck one of the ministers on the 
head; and then, calling for damnation, which he said 
was sealed against him, and raving and cursing God, 
cried, "I am going to hell!" and closed his congested 
eyes in eternal night! 

Lord P. of Northamptonshire, a man of wealth, of 
fashion, and of learning, embraced infidel sentiments, 
and took every opportunity to revile religion. Getting 
his children and servants together in the hall, he 
would, with infernal mirth and revelry, blaspheme his 
God, and make them do the same ! At length he drew 
near his wretched end; and finding that he must die, 
the " powers of the world to come took hold of him." 
In the horror of his dying moment, he said to a friend 
in his room, " Go into my library, and bring me the 
cursed book" — (meaning that which had made him an 
infidel.) His friend went; but soon returned, saying, 
I cannot find it. The noblemen then cried with vehe- 
mence, "Go, look till you do find it! I cannot die 
till it is destroyed !" He soon returned with it; when 



166 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 

the nobleman, seizing it with his dying hand, with 
mingled horror and revenge, tore it to atoms, and 
cast it into the fire ! Having thus taken vengeance on 
the instrument of his ruin, he breathed his soul into the 
hands of the God who gave it, amid inexpressible 
forbodings of the wrath to come ! 

Capt. John Lee, who was executed for forgery, 
became an infidel through reading the writings of David 
Hume. But most deeply did he lament, and bitterly 
bewail, when it was too late, his untimely fate. In a 
letter to a friend, written the night before his execution, 
he says, " I leave to. the world a mournful memento 
that however much a man may be favored by personal 
qualifications, or distinguished by mental endowments, 
genius will be useless, and abilities avail but little, unless 
accompanied by a sense of religion, and attended by 
the practice of virtue. 99 

George Villiars, (the younger,; Duke of Buckingham, 
was the richest man, and one of the most accomplished 
and splendid geniuses, as well as one of the greatest 
infidels, and most profligate and infamous libertines of 
his day. When he found that he must die, all his boast- 
ed courage and philosophy forsook him. In writing to 
Dr. Barrow he says, " O, Doctor, what a profligate 
have I been! Now, when a few days would be worth 
hecatombs of worlds, I cannot flatter myself with the 
prospect of half a dozen hours! How despicable [con- 
tinues he] is that man who never prays to his God, but 
in the time of his distress ! In what manner can he 
supplicate that omnipotent Being, in his affliction, with 
reverence, whom, in the tide of his prosperity, he never 
looked upon with dread? The companions of my former 
libertinism would scarce believe their eyes, were you 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



167 



to show them this epistle. They would laugh at me, or 
pity me as a timorous wretch, who was shocked at the 
appearance of futurity. A future state may well strike 
terror into any man; and he must have uncommon 
courage indeed, who does not shrink at the presence of 
God. You see, dear Doctor, the apprehension of death 
will soon bring the most profligate to a proper use of 
their understandings. I am hunted byremo.rse, despised 
by my acquaintance, and, I fear, forsaken by my God. 
Dear Doctor, to purchase a smile from a blockhead 
whom I despised, I have frequently treated the virtuous 
with disrespect; and sported with the ho^y name of 
Heaven, to obtain a laugh from a parcel of fools, who 
were entitled to nothing but my contempt. " He then 
closed this touching letter in these emphatic words, 
"Come and pray for the departing spirit of unhappy 
Buckingham." He died as the fool — without hope, 
despised, and cast off. 

Take another instance of a nobleman, of splendid 
genius and acquirements, but who drank in infidelity 
as the " ox drinketh in the water brook." He, like 
thousands of others, began to relent when hope had 
nearly fled forever. In a letter to an intimate compan^ 
ion, he says, " Dear Sir, before you receive this, my 
final state will be determined by the Judge of all the earth. 
In a few days, at most, perhaps in a few hours, th<B 
inscrutable sentence will be passed. It is impossible 
for me to express the present disposition of my soul — 
the vast uncertainty I am struggling with! No words 
can paint the force and vivacity of my apprehensions! 
Every doubt wears the face of horror, and would per- 
fectly overcome me, but for some faint beams of hope 
which dart across the tremendous gloom! What tongue 



168 DEATH OP INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 

can utter the anguish of a soul suspended between the 
extremes of infinite joy and eternal misery? I am 
throwing my last stake for eternity, and tremble and 
shudder for the important event. Good God! how have 
I employed myself! What enchantment hath held me! 
In what delirium has my life been past! What have I 
been doing, while the sun in his race, and the stars in 
their courses have lent their beams, perhaps only to 
light me to perdition! I look back upon my past life, 
and but for some memorials of infamy and guilt, it is all 
a blank, a perfect vacancy! I might have grazed with 
the beasts of the field, or sung with the winged inhabit- 
ants of the woods, to a much better purpose than any 
for which I have lived. And, oh! but for some faint 
hope, a thousand times more blessed had I been to have 
slept with the clods of the valley, and never have heard 
the Almighty's fiat, nor waked into life at his command, 
I have often met death insulting on the hostile plain, 
and with a stupid boast defied his terrors, with courage 
as brutal as that of the war-horse. I have rushed into 
the battle, laughed at the glittering spear, and rejoiced 
at the sound of the trumpet ; nor had a thought of any 
state beyond the grave, nor the great tribunal to which 
I must have been summoned, and where all my secret 
guilt had been revealed, nor the minutest circumstance 
concealed. It is this which arms death with all its 
terrors; else I could still mock at fear, and smile in the 
face of the gloomy monarch. It is not giving up my 
breath. It is not being forever insensible. This is not 
the thought at which I shrink. It is a terrible hereafter 
—that something beyond the grave at which I recoil. 
Those great realities, which, in the hours of mirth and 
vanity, I treated as phantoms — as the idle dreams of 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 169 

superstitious people — these start forth and dare me now 
in their most terrible demonstration. My awakened 
conscience feels something of that eternal vengeance I 
have often defied! To what heights of madness is it 
possible for human nature to reach! What extrava- 
gance to jest with death! to laugh at damnation! to sport 
with eternal chains! and recreate a jovial fancy with 
the scenes of eternal misery! Oh, my friend, with what 
horror do I recall the hours of vanity we have wasted 
together! But I have a splendid passage to the grave. 
I die in state, and languish under a gilded canopy! I 
am expiring on soft and downy pillows, and am respect- 
fully attended by my servants and physicians. My 
dependents sigh; my sisters weep; my father bends 
beneath a load of years and grief; my lovely wife, pale 
and silent, conceals her inward anguish; my friend, 
who was as my own soul, suppresses his sighs, and 
leaves me, to hide his secret grief. But, oh! which of 
these will answer my summons at the high tribunal! 
Which of them will bail me from the arrest of death 1 
Who will descend into the dark prison of the grave for 
me? While some flattering' panegyric is pronounced 
at my interment, I may be hearing my just condemna- 
tion at a supreme tribunal; where an unerring verdict 
may sentence me to everlasting infamy! Adieu, my 
dear friend, till we meet in the world of spirits." 

I find myself lost in the immense number of such 
heart-rending scenes as these, in the death and wailing 
lamentations of infidels in their expiring moments, and 
scarcely know which to present to you as specimens of 
the end of the transgressor. I would like to lead you 
to the dying beds of Grotius, Salmasius, Johnson, Hal- 
ler, W'entworth, Dillon, Sheffield, and many more of 
P 



170 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



the same distressing end, and show you that to die in 
peace, we must live religion; but neither time or oppor- 
tunity will now allow me. 

Who could think of dying like that infidel noticed by 
Dr. Barrby? When the doctor told him plainly he 
could not help him, that his case was hopeless, and he 
must die, he raised himself as by infernal power, 
clenched his fists, gnashed his teeth, exclaiming with 
the utmost fury, "God! God! I wont die!" and instant- 
ly expired. 

Mirabeau, the elder, could laugh at death while in 
health, sport with the most sacred things, and point the 
finger of scorn at every friend of Jesus. But when 
he found himself on his dying bed, with all the horrors 
of a guilty conscience, and the indescribable dread and 
fear of death, he begged his physician to poison him, 
that he might not longer bear the insupportable burden 
of an awful uncertainty. When his speech failed him, 
he wrote with his trembling hand these words, 44 Would 
you think the sensation of death proves so painful?" 
His voice returning again, he said, 44 1 have an age of 
thought, but not a moment of courage!" And then, in 
bitter agony he left the world! 

But do you ask if no infidel ever died without this 
tremendous remorse? I answer, yes. Some have 
been given up of God, whose consciences h ave been 
seared as with a hot iron, and have had no bands in 
their death. Some have done so — 44 their strength was 
firm," and they died as they lived. • I will give you one 
instance of that kind of hardened insensibility, in the 
last moment of William Williams, who died at Tarvin, 
near Chester. Before he died, he desired that a pair 
of clog shoes should be put in his coffin, that he might 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 171 



pound devils and damned spirits, when he got to hell. 
When he was entreated not to swear so blasphemously, 
in such a solemn situation, he answered those around 
him, saying, " I neither regard you nor your new God. 
I will curse and swear while I have breath." Here I 
pass over much, too painful for this sacred place! He 
then provided five shillings to be spent at each public 
house on the road to his grave, and requested that they 
should lay him at the corner of the burying ground 
next to the tavern, that he might hear the cursing and 
profanity there, and that every one of his companions 
should drink his health standing on his grave, after it 
was filled up. And strange to say, they did so for 
hours after in the most drunken revelry! O, my God, 
what a picture of infidelity is this! I could bring yott 
many such accounts, could the nerves of my more 
sensitive hearers bear the tremendous shock, or endure 
the infernal malignity of such dying exhibitions! 

But most infidels, like the celebrated physician men- 
tioned by Rev. Mr. Cook, who was but a walking moral 
pestilence while living, ridiculing every thing sacred 
and holy, laughing at death, and the hope of immor- 
tality — but when in wo unutterable, bewailed in the 
most solemn and affecting maner his past folly, and the 
belief of those infidel principles which had ruined him, 
begging, with tears and bitter groans, his deluded com- 
panions to forsake their ruinous principles, and then, 
with distorted features, rolling eyes, and dismal lamen- 
tations, he sunk down in the cold embrace of death, 
without the least glimmerings of hope. 

But you may naturally inquire, how did those men 
die, whose principles you have so largely quoted, and 
whose lives were so licentiously infamous? 1 will tell 



172 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 

you how they died. Hume closed his eyes in cheerless 
gloom, without one ray of light. There is no scene on 
earth so digraceful, connected with one's own death as 
that of this celebrated philosopher and infidel. When 
death approached him, he knew not whether he was to 
sleep an eternal sleep, or to awake beyond the tomb. 
He attempted to hush a guilty conscience, and to blunt 
the sting of death, by the idle and childish fooleries of 
old Charon, his leaky boat, and the river Styx. " Whist- 
ling aloud to keep his courage up." "He confessed, 
however, in the most explicit terms, that his principles 
were not calculated to administer consolation to a think- 
ing mind." His language now became so obscene and 
filthy that ladies left the room. "It is true," said his 
house-keeper and his nurse, "when his friends were 
about him, he would try to be cheerful; but when he 
was alone the scene was quite different. Such was the 
agitation of his mind, that he would make the whole bed 
under him shake. He would not allow the candles to 
be put out in the night, neither would he be left alone 
a single moment. He struggled hard to appear com- 
posed; but his disturbed sleep, and still more disturbed 
wakenings; his involuntary breathings of remorse, and 
frightful startings, showed that all was not right within. 
This continued and increased until he became insensible. 
I hope in God, [continues she,] I shall never witness 
another such scene." 

The celebrated Hobbes died under a cloud of the 
same impenetrable gloom. He never dared to think of 
death, or speak about it. If his candle went out in his 
room, he was in perfect misery. " I shall be glad; 
[said he,] to find a hole to creep out of this world" and 
then* as he sunk into the deep valley of death, he said* 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 173 



M 1 am about to take a leap in the dark;" and then 
closed his eyes in hopeless misery, without one ray of 
light to shoot athwart the fearful and tremendous gloom. 

Gibbon, the author of the celebrated history that 
bears his name, confessed at last, that " all is now lost, 
finally, irrecoverably lost;" and with the presage of 
eternal burnings, left this probationary state! His 
death was announced in the public prints with these 
remarks, " He left this world in gloomy despondency, 
without those hopes and consolations which cheer the 
Christian in the prospect of immortality." Thus he 
left the world he had so much abused, by his pernicious 
principles. 

The wretched Paine, in his dying moments, excited 
mingled sensations of pity, horror, disgust, and indig- 
nation. He confessed that " if ever the devil had an 
agent on earth, he was one." Sometimes praying, and 
sometimes blaspheming the God of heaven, he appeared 
like a fiend escaped from perdition, to show men some 
of the horrors and woes of the second death. During 
his paroxysms he would cry out without intermission, 
"O Lord, help mei God, help me! Jesus Christ, help 
me! O Lord, help me!" in a tone of voice that would 
alarm the whole house, until his frightful voice was 
hushed on earth, but to be raised again in bitter agony, 
amid the wailings of the damned, 

" And curse almighty God, and curse the Lamb, 
And curse the earth, the resurrection morn, 
And seek, and ever seek for utter death." 

Said a dying infidel, in one of our eastern cities, as 
some ministers entered his chamber, "Tigers and 
monsters! are ye also become devils to torment me, and 
P2 



174 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 

give me a prospect of heaven, to make my hell more 
intolerable? God is become my enemy; and there is 
none so strong as to deliver me out of his hands. He 
consigns me over to eternal vengeance, and none can 
redeem me." Then, with a groan so hideous and loud 
as if coming from the pit below, he cried, " O, the 
insufferable pangs of hell and damnation!" and expired. 

O, how different were the death of such infidels, from 
such men of God as Marshall, who, when he was 
drawing near to death, called his brethren and sisters 
around his dying bed, and said to them, " Dear brethren 
and sisters, I am just gone. This night I shall probably 
expire; but I have nothing to fear. I have fought a 
good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the 
faith; and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness. God has shown me that he is my God; 
jhat I am his son, and that an eternal weight of glory is 
mine." The venerable partner of his cares and his 
joys, sitting bedewed with tears by his side, he said, 
" Go on, my dear wife, to serve the Lord; hold out to 
the end. Eternal glory is before us." " My breath 
[says he) is almost gone. I have been praying that I 
may go home to-night." Then, gently closing his eyes; 
he slept with Christ, and now walks with angels in the 
pure climes of unutterable bliss. 

Rev. Mr. Batchelder, while on his dying bed, and 
having just awoke from a gentle slumber, said to those 
in his room, " Did you hear the conversation just now:" 
They answered, No. He said, " I have been convers- 
ing with Heaven. You might have heard" — His flut- 
tering spirit, preparing to wing its ascending way, had 
so overpowered the body, that he could not speak 
distinctly, yet his weeping companion could clearly 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



175 



distinguish these words, 44 1 am just on the borders of 
eternity." Then, with unearthly vigor, he raised 
himself and said, " There shall I wear a starry crown." 
When his speech had failed, and he was actually dying, 
he made signs, and they brought him a slate. He 
attempted to write, but his hand was chilled by death, 
and the lines run into each other, so that nothing dis- 
tinctly could be read, except the last two words, which 
were, "no terrors." 

The Rev. Mr. Gano seemed to sit smiling in the most 
blessed tranquility on the banks of Jordan, and the 
borders of that fearful valley, looking with delight upon 
the deep shades and dark stream he must soon enter. 
" I have enjoyed," said he, " not a cloud, but all clear 
sunshine. I have been trying to find a dark spot, but 
all is bright; my sky is without a cloud " — then sinking 
down in the arms of death, he falteringly said, "I breathe 
the air of heaven ! My soul is filled — with God — and 
Christ! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly !" and he fled 
away from earth — from all its sins, and all its sor- 
rows. 

O ! I could feast you in the dying chamber of just 
such men until, the dawn of another day. Yes : I 
eould make you say with Balaam, "let me die the death 
of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." O, 
how blessed to die like such men ! 

6i While friends standi weeping all around, 

And loth to let them go — 
They shout with their expiring breath, 

And leave them all below." 

But shall I ask you to go back again and look once 
more into the chamber of the dying infidel, and witness 
his unutterable anguish ? It is in his dying chamber 



176 



DEATH OP INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



alone, where you can have a perfect view of the deceit- 
fulness and inefficiency of infidelity. And hence, I am 
anxious you should be satisfied there, because infidelity 
boasts of a victory over the fear of death. 

The accomplished and eloquent, but licentious and 
dissolute Rousseau, after having plunged into every 
species of vice and degradation, at last confessed, that 
" guilty without remorse, I soon became so without mea- 
sure." After writing his infamous history, too polluted 
to lay before you — plunging as he found himself to be 
into an eternal state, he said to his mistress, " how 
happy a thing it is to die, when one has no reason for 
remorse or self reproach !" And then addressing him- 
self to the Almighty, he said, " Eternal Being ! The 
soul that I am going to give thee back, is as pure at this 
moment as it was when it proceeded from thee ! Render 
it a partaker of thy felicity f w and then expired with 
this most awful lie, and blasphemous boast, faltering 
upon his chilling lip. There is nothing like this in all 
the annals of vice, or on the records of crime. Yet 
this is the infamous man whom the Constituent Assembly 
held up to the imitation and veneration of the deluded 
French, and whom our modern infidels delight to honor.' 
I can never read the end of this wretched man, without 
feeling the blood chill and crowd upon my throbbing and 
laboring heart. 

The talented and accomplished young Servin, after 
having drank deep at the fountains of classic lore, and 
traveled over most of Europe, became poisoned with 
infidelity in France, and at once plunged into every 
vice, and "died in the very flower of his age, in a 
common brothel, with a glass in his hand, cursing reli- 
gion, and denying his God !' ? 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 177 



In cases like these, I know not where to begin, or 
where to end; but feeling an irrepressible desire to have 
you know the latter end of such men as are held up for 
your imitation, and for specimens of triumph over moral 
principle, you will pardon me for introducing two or 
three cases more. 

An infidel of immense estate, being suddenly taken 
ill, his physician having been called,- told him plainly 
he was near his end. 44 Do you think me dying Pf said 
the wretched man in great agony of mind. Being told 
that he was, he exclaimed, " Impossible ! You must not 
let' me die ! I dare not die ! Oh, Doctor ! save me — 
save me ! My mind is full of horror! I cannot die P* 
44 This man," says his historian, 44 was once applauded 
and caressed, the hero of his party." But alas ! in 
death he was the image of hell, and amid groans of 
unutterable woe, he hasted to the fearful judgment. 
Says Mr. Hervey, in a letter to Beau Nash, As I en- 
tered his room he said, 44 death is knocking at my door! 
In a few hours more I shall draw my last gasp, and 
then the judgment, the tremendous judgment ! How 
shall I appear, unprepared as I am, before the all-know- 
ing and omnipotent God ! How shall I endure the day 
of his coming ! Now I receive the reward of my 
doings — fearfulness and trembling are come upon me ! 
Woe is me ! I refused when God called ; and now I 
smart and am in sore anguish already, and yet this is 
but the beginning of sorrows ! It doth not yet appear 
what I shall be; but sure I shall be ruined, undone, and 
destroyed with an everlasting destruction \" And then 
cursing his infidelity, lamenting his fearful end, and 
speechless, with a dying groan, he bid the world adieu. 

The Hon. Francis Newport was a young man of 



173 



DEATH OP INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS 



splendid acquirements, of an amiable disposition, and 
of a religious education. But alas ! he fell, like the 
M man among thieves, " into the hands of infidels, who 
ruined both soul and body. He joined himself to an 
infidel club, and with them could soon. revile and laugh 
at every thing sacred. But death, the king of terrors, 
smote him, and such was the intensity of the agony of 
his mind, that he seemed almost to sweat drops of blood. 
At one time, looking towards the fire, he said, "Oh ! that 
I was to lie and broil upon that fire for a hundred thou- 
sand years, to purchase the favor of God, and be recon- 
ciled to him again ! But it is a fruitless, vain wish. 
Millions of millions of years will bring me no nearer 
the end of my tortures, than one poor hour ! Oh ! 
Eternity ! Eternity ! who can properly paraphrase upon 
the words, forever and ever/" And then in anguish 
which no language can paint, he died, leaving on his 
frightful and distorted features the impress of unutterable 
agony ! 

It is true that, 

" Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
As to be hated, needs but to be seen; 
Yet seen too oft — familiar with her face — i 
We first endure — then pity — then embrace. M 

However we may, by familiarity, become reconciled 
to it, yet at the last " it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth 
like an adder." Infidelity has ever been a spawn of all 
vices and villanies — a "deluge of all outrages and mis- 
chiefs upon the earth." 

The Earl of Rochester, with splendid talents, and 
still more splendid acquirements, was one of the most 
heaven-daring infidels of his day. His lordship had 
just returned from a journey, when he was suddenly 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 179 



taken ill. The Rev. Mr. Parsons called to visit him, 
and found him laboring under indescribable horror of 
conscience, and dread of the future. He confessed, 
that during his journey, he had been arguing with more 
vigor against God and religion, than he ever had in all 
his life before; and that he had resolved to run them 
down, with all the argument and spite of the world ! 
JBut now he was filled with the most awful and tremen- 
dous apprehensions of the Divine Majesty. " One day," 
said he, "at an infidel meeting in the house of a person 
of quality, I undertook to -manage the cause, and was 
the principal disputant against God and religion; and 
for my performance received the applause of the whole 
company. Upon this, my mind was terribly struck, and 
I immediately replied to myself, Good God ! that a man 
who walks upright, and sees the wonderful works of 
God, and has the use of his senses and, reason, should 
use them to the defying of his Creator !" " O, blessed 
God!" he would say, " can such a horrid 'creature as I 
am, be accepted by thee, who have denied thy being, and 
contemned thy power ? Can there be mercy and par- 
don for me ? Will God own such a wretch as I V 9 
Mo3t bitterly did he repent his folly, and the abomina- 
tions of infidelity, showing that, 

"Men may live fools — but fools they cannot die!" 

Certainly, health, strength, and prosperity, cannot test 
the influence of infidelity in death. We must go to 
the dying bed for that. 

You are all acquainted with the last hours of the noble 
Altamont, as given by Dr. Young, yet j will bring it 
before you again. His friend and his physician coming 
into his room, he said, "you and the Doctor are come 



ISO DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 

too late. I have neither life nor hope P Heaven, said 
his friend, is merciful — " or I could not have been thus 
guilty. What has it not done to bless and save me? I 
have bee$ too strong for Omnipotence ! 1 have plucked 
down ruin!" Said his friend, the blessed Redeemer — 
"Hold! hold! you wound me! — that is the rock on 
which I split! I denied his name !" — "Oh, time ! time ! 
it is fit that thou shouldst strike thy murderer to the 
heart ! A month ! Oh, for a single week ! I ask not 
for years — though an age were too little for the much I 
have to do ! Heaven is lost ! is lost ! it is to me the 
severest part of hell !" Here his friend and the physi- 
cian were melted into tears. To the former, he said, 
" Keep those tears for thyself 5 I have undone thee ! 
My much injured friend ! my soul, as my body, lies in 
ruins — in scattered fragments of broken thought. Re- 
morse for the past, throws my thoughts on the future ; 
Worse- dread of the future, strikes them back on the 
past ! I turn, and turn, and find no ray. Didst thou 
feel half the mountain that presses me down, thou 
wouldst struggle with the martyr for his stake, and bless 
Heaven for the flames! That is not an everlasting 
flame — that is not an unquenchable Are !" — "My prin- 
ciples have poisoned my friend ; my extravagance has 
beggared my boy ; my unkindness has murdered my 
wife ! And is there yet another hell 1 Oh ! thou blas- 
phemed, yet most indulgent Lord God ! Hell itself is 
a refuge, if it hide rne from thy frown !" "His terrified 
imagination uttered horrors not to be mentioned or forgot, 
and ere the sun rose, the gay, young, noble, ingenious, 
accomplished, and most wretched Altamont expired P 

Let us for a moment, again change this cloud, and 
look once more upon its brilliant side. Stephen, when 



DEATH OP INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



181 



lie knelt as a martyr down in death, beheld the burnished 
throne of God, through the opening heavens, and gazing 
up, until his face was changed into the same glory he 
beheld — he bowed himself in glorious hope, and died in 
prayer. Paul desired most of all to depart and be with 
Christ. I once stood by the bed of a dying minister, 
and heard him constantly repeat, until his tongue had 
ceased to move and his lips were sealed in death, these 
blessed words, " the rock, the rock, the rock of my 
salvation ! ;? Ignatius longed for his martyrdom, that 
he might go home to heaven, his last, his glorious resi- 
dence. Polycarp, amid the flames at the stake, ex- 
claimed, "O, Father ! I bless thee that thou hast counted 
me worthy of this day and of this hour, to receive my 
portion in the cup of Christ ! w Said Hooper, in going 
to the stake, " I am well, thank God ! and death, to 
me, for Christ's sake, is welcome ! ?? Fletcher died ex- 
claiming, " God is love ! God is love ! Eternal rest is at 
hand !" Said the dying Payson, " While my body is 
thus tortured, the soul is perfectly happy and peaceful. 
I seem to swim in a flood of glory, which God pours 
down upon me ; and I know, I know, that my joy is but 
just begun !" 

But what can I, what shall I say more ? Shall I tell 
you of Pearce, of Fuller, of Staughton, of Latimer, of 
Ridley, of Newton and Scott, Swartz and Buchanan, 
of Martyn and Richmond ? But the catalogue is end- 
less, and I must stop. Yet not till I have led you to the 
dying bed of the great apostle of infidelity — I mean 
the wretched Voltaire. 

He has just returned from the theater, amid the loud 
huzzas and the acclamations of praise from the throng 
surrounding him, to enter his chamber for the last time. 
Q 



182 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



His physician hastens to his bed. " Doctor," says the 
dying infidel, "I am abandoned by God and man ! I 
will give you half of what I am worth, if you will give 
me six months' life !" Sir, says his physician, you 
cannot live six weeks! "Then, 75 said he "I shall go 
to hell P D'Alembert, Diderot, and Marmontel, his 
associate conspirators against Jesus Christ, with trem- 
bling hasten to keep him from the agony of overwhelm- 
ing despair. But he spurns them from his bed, and 
horror-stricken, they retire. He sends for the Abbe 
Gautier, in spite of the infidel guards who like incarnate 
fiends beset his room, to prevent his recantation. Yet 
he signs, in the presence of many witnesses, his dese- 
cration and recantation of infidelity. The Abbe hastens 
to the Rector of St. Sulpice, and the Archbishop of 
Paris, for their approbation. But when he returns he 
cannot enter. The doors and every avenue that led to 
his room were guarded, by these infernal conspirators 
against all that was lovely and good in the universe of 
Gocl. Yet could the voice of the dying man be heard, 
as D'Alembert, Diderot, and others of this unholy crew 
approached his bed, exclaiming in terror, "Retire! 
Begone ! it is you who have brought me to my present 
state !" In one moment he would curse God and Christ 
and in the next cry out, "Oh, Christ ! Oh, Jesus Christ!'' 
But he was then tasting the cup, the bitter cup of wrath 
from the hand of that sin-avenging God, whom he had 
despised. The Mareschal de Richelieu, in horror and 
almost fainting, flies from the room, declaring it to be a 
sight "too terrible to be sustained.'' The thunderstruck 
and astonished physician, in terror also, hastens from 
his room, saying, "the death of the impious man is 
terrible indeed, too terrible to be endured." Fronchin 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 183 

declares that " the furies of Orestes, could give but a 
faint idea of those of Voltaire P Thus expired this 
infidel apostle, this leader, this enemy of Christ. And 
in similar horror departed the wretched Diderot and 
D'Alembert — tasting before the cup of trembling. 

But, young gentlemen, I will close these scenes, 
which are terrible beyond description. You have seen 
sufficient to convince you " that when a wicked man 
dieth, his expectation is cut off," and that 66 hell from 
beneath is moved to meet him at his coming !" Oh ! if 
such be the end of infidel philosophy, may Heaven 
preserve us from its fatal tendency ! 

We have tried to tear the mask from this bloody fiend 
w T ho has usurped it, and show you what infidelity really 
is. You cannot now mistake its nature, or its most 
fatal tendency. You have seen it in its native deprav- 
ity — you have seen its reign of licentiousness and 
blood — you have seen its unblushing villainy in the lives 
of its warmest votaries, and in the principles of its most 
zealous advocates — you have seen its infectious venom 
poisoning the pure bosom of youth and beauty, and 
withering up the last hope of declining age— you have 
seen it glutting even vengeance itself, in filling prisons? 
and crowding scaffolds — you have seen the executioner 
of the innocent to-day, become the victim of reacting 
vengeance to-morrow — you have seen it turning a land 
smiling with every bounty of Heaven, into one vast pit, 
where all that was lovely in youth and beauty, splendid 
and magnificent in rank and power, all that was deep 
and profound in cultivated minds, and venerable in gray 
hairs, mingled in one undistinguished mass of ruin ! 
You have looked again, and seen its unfeeling mockery 
lathe hour of death, leaving its deluded votaries to sink 



134 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 

down in hopeless despair ! With this knowledge of 
infidelity, dare you build your hopes upon it ? Will 
you expect, guided by this, to pursue the paths of virtue 
and of honor, and to see a long blaze of glory lingering 
in your train ? 

Ah ! no ! Infidelity will leave you to struggle with 
death alone. It will 44 mock when your fear cometh." 
It will retire when death approaches to seize you for 
his own: yea, it will sport with your dying agony, your 
expiring groans ! O, do not be deceived! Think not that it 
can lend you assistance, when its incompetency to do so 
has been demonstrated in the experience of every one who 
has tried it. The blood of its murdered victims cries from 
the ground, and a sound comes up to the living from 
the pit of wo, loud as the voice of many waters — " des- 
truction and misery are in her ways, and her steps 
take hold on hell, leading down to the chambers of 
death." Oh! I warn } r ou in the name of Heaven, and 
of every thing sacred, to beware of this hellish monster, 
" glittering in spots of gold, and painted with the colors 
of enchantment." Let me show you a more "excellent 
way" — let me lead you to a friend that will never for- 
sake you — let me point you to a city, and to a "house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Will 
you, oh! will you join me there? 

"Now here's my heart, and here's my hand, 
To meet you in that happy land, 
Where we shall part no more." 

We have told you in a former lecture, that the eyes, 
and the hopes of your country, of the church of the 
blessed God, and the world at large, are turned towards, 
and resting upon you. They expect you to do wonders. 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 185 

You are now making the lightnings of heaven, as well 
as the wind and the water, to become auxiliary to your 
complicated system of splendid operations. You are 
digging down mountains; lifting up plains; stretching 
rail-roads and canals from east to west, and north to 
south; and by the simple vapor of water you are setting 
cars in motion which challenge the rapidity of winds 
and waves, and overcoming them both, are bringing 
with rapid proximity the most distant countries together! 
Strange, indeed, would it be, if the world should not 
expect you to accomplish wonders! We have advised 
you, also, of the qualifications you must possess, in 
order to answer these high, these honorable, and these 
reasonable expectations. You must have science, in 
the first place; and religion, in the next. Without 
science, to some considerable extent, you cannot answer 
the expectations of your country, or hope to be useful 
in this day, when science is pouring its concentrated 
light, like the splendor of a cloudless day, upon the 
world. And without religion, pure andundefiled before 
God and the father, you cannot even hope to answer 
the glowing expectations the church have formed. Be 
assured, they look to you, and confidently expect to see 
many of you standing upon the high places of Zion; and 
before their ears are too dull of hearing, they expect 
to listen to the silver notes of that gospel trumpet, which 
will yet be put into your hands to blow. Oh! disappoint 
not these sacred expectations. Let not these glorious 
hopes perish in the same grave that entombs our 
fathers. But we have also admonished you of some of 
those principles and practices which will utterly dis- 
qualify you to meet and answer those claims which the 
world has upon you. We have laid infidelity at the 
Q 2 



186 DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



base of all that train of evil, which is ruining unnum- 
bered thousands of our brightest, fairest youth, and 
spreading in this day and country with such alarming- 
rapidity. The reason why we so unhesitatingly affirm 
that infidelity will ruin you, and render you rather 
curses to the world than blessings to mankind, we have 
given you in the nature and tendency of infidelity, 
which is to subvert all morals and good order in society. 
Of. this truth you are now doubtless convinced; and 
feel assured that infidelity as naturally tends to vice and 
sensuality of every kind, as the ripe fruit falls to the 
earth, the sparks ascend upwards, the rivers roll to the 
ocean, or the needle points to the pole. 

With this view of the subject, tell me, will you settle 
down amid the cold and heartless speculations of a 
corrupt and corrupting infidelity, and spurn with un- 
holy contempt the only hope of heaven ? Oh ! you 
cannot, will not thus barter away the salvation of your 
soul; pluck down ruin and everlasting wo upon your 
head, for the " privilege" of being associated with that 
demoniac circle where ignorance and vulgarity alone 
reign, and where all is cursing and blasphemy, deceit 
and malice, wrath and envy, infamy and fraud, seduc- 
tion and plunder, pollution and avarice, impiety and 
blood V Oh! may Heaven forbid it, and preserve you 
from the captivating influence of those gaudy trappings, 
in which the bitterest foe of God and man, has ever 
been concealed. 

But I point you to the splendid mansions on high; to 
that eternal weight of glory, reserved there. I point 
you to heaven; to the throne of the eternal God; to an 
innumerable company of angels, to the general assem- 
bly, and to the church of the first born; and I ask you, 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 187 

will you take up your residence there, amid the splen- 
dors of an eternal noon? Will you lay aside the tattered 
robe in which depravity has clothed you, and come to 
the inexhaustible stores of the gospel, and adorn your- 
selves in the unspotted, and never-fading robe of the 
righteousness of Christ? To conduct your erring steps 
to this "Lamb of God" — this " sinner's friend" — permit 
me to present you this sacred volume; this book of 
God. Dash down from your trembling hand, as you 
would the poisoned chalice from your lips, the " Age 
of Reason." Remember from what a sublime and 
glorious hight, the oracles of God look down upon the 
deformed, the groveling, the chaotic mass of these 
contradictory opinions. Remember there cannot exist 
between them the least affinity. If you love the one, 
you must hate the other. If you choose the one, you 
must despise the other. But I should do violence to my 
own feelings, and to the sacred cause I have been 
advocating, should I close these lectures without entreat- 
ing you, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, to 
make your peace with God. Nothing but the grace of 
God can possibly " save your souls from death, or hide 
a multitude of sins;" or give you admittance into the 
kingdom of God's dear Son. " You must be born 
again, or down to ruin go." For " except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And 
"no unclean thing shall enter the kingdom of heaven." 
But to all the rich and ample provisions of God's house, 
you are welcome, through Jesus Christ. The Spirit 
and the Bride say, come, and all that hear say, come; 
then come, oh come, and welcome, for 

" Rivers of love and mercy here, 
In a rich ocean join: 



189 DEATH OP INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



Salvation in abundance flows, 
Like floods of milk and wine/' 

If you stay away, you perish; and will be destroyed 
with an everlasting destruction. You cannot contend 
with the Almighty. 

" Say, have you an arm like God, 

That you his will oppose? 
Fear you not that iron rod, 

With which he breaks his foes?" 

Permit me to say, that without religion, you stand 
and walk on the brink of ruin — on the very borders of 
an undone eternity, with but a single step between you 
and eternal burnings! O, turn aside from these paths 
of folly, and enter the straight and narrow way that 
leadeth unto life. 

I cannot here but return my sincere thanks to the 
young gentlemen of this city, and to the citizens gene- 
rally, for the deep interest and solicitude they have 
manifested, both for myself, and the success of these 
lectures. For this kindness on their part, I feel my- 
self most amply rewarded. And should they be the 
means of establishing in truth any who are now wa- 
vering; or reclaiming any from infidelity, and conse- 
quently from ruin, let Him have all the praise, to whom 
all the glory of heaven and of earth is due. 

Young gentlemen, "I commend you to God, and to 
the word of his grace and as I close, I lay at the 
door of your hearts, the blessed gospel — dignified, 
sublime, and beautiful, beyond all human conception — 
" able to make you wise unto salvation." By possess- 
ing this, you will rise superior to the cavils of infidels, 
or the attractions of earth. You will hold communion 
with Heaven, and fellowship with angels. You will 



DEATH OF INFIDELS AND CHRISTIANS. 



189 



scatter blessings upon all around, during your pilgrim- 
age here; and when your tabernacle shall be dissolved, 
you will plume your immortal wing for your ascending 
way, amid a convoy of angels, to that " house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens;" and there may you 
meet your unworthy speaker, and with him cry — Ho- 
sanna ! hosanna! for ever and ever, Amen ! 



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^* * Cranberry Township. PA 16066 

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